IMG_2980.JPG, originally uploaded by limonene.
April showers bring May flowers, right? Well, if that’s true, this may is sure going to be a doozy, because I’m seriously tempted to start gathering up animals two by two. This is a closeup of some blossoms that I took while I was walking across the President’s personal helipad Central Park this past Tuesday.
Knitty Crusoe, originally uploaded by limonene.
My Crusoe socks are finally done. I finished the knitting in the car on the trip back from my cousin’s wedding, but it took me until last night to actually get up the nerve to try kitchenering again. It went about as well as my previous attempt, so now I have matching wonky purl toes. I’m still not sure what I’m doing wrong, even following the Knitty tutorial, but they’re comfortable enough in my shoes, and that’s really all that matters.
Instead of finishing my socks, what have I been doing?
Why, starting another pair of socks, of course. This time around it’s Gothic Spires by Cookie A, the knitter who brought us Pomatomus and Monkey (neither of which I’ve attempted yet). It’s Louet Gems Pearl Caribbean Blue, which I hope won’t end up being too jazzy a color for my grandmother, unless I also have time to knit up another pair in STR Footzey-Foo by Mother’s Day.
So far it’s been a fairly fun knit, but I definitely still need the chart, and have to count, count, count. I’ve had to rip back more than I care to admit. K1tbl P1 ribbing is not the same as K1 tbl P2 ribbing!
It’s gotta be the socks., originally uploaded by limonene.
Better late than never, right? I played hooky last Thursday because my friend R. had some good seats to the Yankees/Indians game (Tier Box MVP, which is generally a bit too rich for my blood). We almost didn’t end up going, because the weather was looking ominous in the morning, but my faith in Chris Cimino’s weather reporting carried the day and I got there after some Fun With Mass Transit.
Boy were we glad that we did. It didn’t end up raining a drop, and by the end of the game it was warm and sunny. We were sitting amongst some real characters, including the guys whose heads are in the bottom of the frame there and another guy who was trying to hit on the girl sitting next to me by quizzing her on baseball terminology. As usual, I got a funny look for being that girl keeping score, but it came in handy. When you’re in a section with foul balls whizzing to either side of you it helps to keep you paying attention to what’s going on. And as for the game itself? Things got off to a decent start, behind starter Darrel Rasner, but inexplicably he was pulled after 4.1 innings, and then things went all pear-shaped. Mike Myers did a creditable job, and Brian Bruney followed him. But then Luis Vizcaino absolutely imploded. I’ve actually blocked the memory of most of that inning. Compounding the damage, the bats just didn’t show up. Of course the fact that the guy catching the game has never reached base on a hit in a major league game might have had something to do with that. Finally, Joe brought in Phelps at first and Posada to catch–poor guy can’t get a day off–and although it didn’t pay off at first, it did in the end. Kyle Farnsworth pitched the 8th, and then Sean Henn came in for the 9th, giving up a run. By this point, all looked lost, and quite frankly the only reason we stuck with it was because that is what fans do, and the weather was nice. Even the guys in the dugout looked bummed out (but still intense):
But then, bottom of the ninth, with two outs, came the four o’clock thunder. Josh Phelps started it by hitting one out of the park. Then Posada, Damon (although he sort of scared us by attempting to bunt with two outs), Jeter, and Abreu did what they do best (singling, drawing a walk, singling in a run, and singling in another run). So once again, it all came down to this man:
And hoo boy, did he deliver. I was too busy jumping up and down and cheering to get a good photo of it. After all, first and foremost, I’m just a fan.
IMG_2420.JPG, originally uploaded by limonene.
The sun is finally shining, after what seemed like weeks of clouds and rain and snow and cold. And with spring come lots and lots of flowers. These were part of a great surprise birthday gift that I received last weekend, and that burst of color was just what I needed.
Oh, what the heck. for good measure I’ll throw these in too:
Breaking fast, originally uploaded by limonene.
I tried, but last Friday, I realized that I couldn’t hold out on myself any longer. I was looking at The Loopy Ewe and I saw that they had some Fleece Artist in stock in Forest, a nice mossy green, and I just couldn’t resist. And just like that, I was off the wagon: shortly afterwards two skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Devon jumped into my cart, followed by one of Cookie A’s sock patterns and the Louet Gems fingering weight in Caribbean blue that I’d need to knit those up. In a nice bit of timing, the yarn arrived Tuesday morning, the day after my roommate’s defense/my birthday (it was a very happy day in the apartment). So really, this is like a gift!
I think that this is going to hold me over for a while. I might make Monkey from Knitty out of the Fleece Artist, and I’m thinking of knitting something a bit simpler out of the Lorna’s as a take-along project. I’m working on the heel gusset on my second Crusoe sock, so it’s definitely time to figure out what I’m going to tackle next.
It’s another gray, gloomy day in the city, but at least it’s warmer out. So to cheer things up a bit, I’m going to focus on one of the perks of sitting in the lower section behind the dugout and on-deck circle:
Derek Jeter, the Yankee captain.
Have a great weekend!
Categories: baseball
Crusoe 2, originally uploaded by limonene.
I’m getting there on the second Crusoe–just three more repeats of the pattern in the leg and then on to the heel (and on to some other pattern). I think this is turning into the most photographed sock ever.
I’ve yet to break my “yarn fast”, which is probably a good thing. Believe it or not, I’ve got a little bit of choice paralysis. Do I want to pick up some Fleece Artist sock yarn? Can I buy it in the city, since it seems to sell out in a flash when it goes on sale online? Or do I want to look into buying sock yarn to dye myself, along with a cheap pot to use for dyeing? Or perhaps some more laceweight.
At any rate, my resolve to finish the Argosy is steadily weakening as the temperature should theoretically be rising. I know I should get it finished and over with, but my attention is really straying. I’m really itching to start another lace shawl. And itching is the right word for it, because the mohair in the Silk Garden Light is a bit scratchy. On the other hand, it really has been unseasonably cold, so the scarf might be useful at the next game I’m planning to go to, since it’s supposed to be in the 40s. Again.
Spring will be here any day now, right?
Categories: Uncategorized
Ever since I moved to the city, my family has made a tradition of going to Yankee Stadium on “Calendar Day”, usually the first weekend homestand of the season, when they give out calendars to everyone in attendance. After Friday’s game, I was pretty apprehensive about going up there in the cold again, but Saturday afternoon was much better overall. The subway was empty enough that my parents and cousin and I could sit, and I got a few rows in on my second Crusoe, although again once I was at the stadium, the gloves went on again, so the knitting was over with for the afternoon. There was still plenty of picture-taking, scorekeeping, and rooting to start with. Whenever we go, we sit way up in the upper deck:
This is the view from Section 13 row V. Needless to say, we didn’t do a lot of moving around this game. We were sitting next to a family who drove 4 hours from Pennsylvania to watch the game. When I found out that the father came from the same hometown as Mussina and played baseball against him, I felt like a bit of a heel for mentioning how Moose didn’t have it the night before. They were very nice about it, though. We settled in for the introductions and pregame festivities, which included driving a Ferrari around the stadium. The players warmed up, the managers handed in the lineup cards, and things got underway.
Unfortunately, while Kei Igawa was sporting some pretty cool shades, he got roughed up by the Orioles to the tune of 6 runs, beginning with a homer in the top of the first.
Luckily, this afternoon, Alex Rodriguez was on fire. The linked photo is of his first at bat, in which he hit a 2 run home run. Traschel did settle down after that, though, while Igawa…didn’t. They even had the Polish Powerhouse in at first for better defense…
but since there were a lot of fly balls, Doug Mientkiewicz didn’t have as much to do as he would with a groundball pitcher like Wang.
What the game eventually boiled down to was a tale of two bullpens. While Igawa didn’t have a single 1-2-3 inning, the Yankee relief pitchers got the game moving along much faster. Brian Bruney, Mike Myers, and Luis Vizcaino held the birds scoreless. The Orioles bullpen gave up a 3 run homer to Giambi in the bottom of the 8th.
I started to get a good feeling about what might be in store for us when Mariano Rivera came in to pitch the 9th inning:
It’s always a pleasure to watch that man at work.
That was when we moved down to the lower deck to meet up with my cousin, so we got a great view of Mo, and of the Yankee on-deck circle, and the batters. The Orioles’ closer got the Polish Powerhouse and Melky Cabrera out, but then Robinson Cano singled,
Derek Jeter walked, and then Bobby Abreu was hit by a pitch to load the bases for none other than Alex Rodriguez. Things were tense in the Stadium, but the crowd was definitely behind Alex 100%, even when he quickly got behind by two strikes. Some fans may or may not have even possibly declared their unconditional love for A-Rod. Perhaps. But then…the closer dealt, and Alex swung and…
Yep. A walk-off grand slam into the black seats. One of only three walk-off grand slams ever to be hit when the Yankees were behind in team history. I’ve never seen the man look so happy and relaxed, and it was pretty amazing to have been there to witness it.
In short, it was a really ugly game that got really pretty at the very end. And I’m glad that my parents, my cousin and I were together to see it.
So far, my 2007 in attendance record: 1-1.
Categories: baseball
My First Game of the Season, originally uploaded by limonene.
I brought the sock to two Yankee games this past weekend, both of which were freezing. Friday night vs. the Orioles was the first of my 6 games in the bleachers, and I don’t think I’ve ever been so uncomfortable at a game. Despite wearing two pairs of pants, wool socks, multiple shirts, a sweater, a down parka, a hat, earmuffs, knitted wristwarmers and gloves, ewe still had to leave early because I couldn’t stop shivering. Really, the only bright spots were getting to see Mike Mussina up close as he warmed up in the bullpen, and finally giving my friend R. his Christmas gift: a pair of wristwarmers in Yankee Blue. I think they came in useful that night and for the rest of the weekend. Actually, that’s not true. After a long winter with no baseball, it’s always great when you finally get out to the stadium (even if it still feels like winter) to see your team playing again. After all, even though Moose didn’t have it that particular night, he’s still one of my favorite pitchers, and I got to see Alex rocking the high socks:
I just hope that the weather gets a lot nicer for me the next time I have those seats on the 27th, and that the outcome of the game is a more favorable one for my Yankees.
Crusoe, originally uploaded by limonene.
And here’s my first Crusoe in all its jelly-bean-colored glory. I cast on 48 stitches for the stockinette portion, and then increased to 56 before starting the stranded pattern. I knit 24 repeats of the stranded pattern before knitting the heel flap in the stranded stitch from the Crusoe pattern and doing the heel turn from Broadripple from Knitty. I left about two inches for the toes and followed the decrease pattern from Crusoe until I had 12 stitches left, and then I attempted to graft the toe:
and it’s weird, but if I’m lucky, it’ll hold up.
And finally, here’s some Eye Candy Friday, courtesy of the Orchid Show, which is in its final weekend at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx:
Categories: Uncategorized
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