Knitting on

IMG_3793.JPG, originally uploaded by limonene.

Well, more like slogging on…life has gotten in the way of knitting, so I haven’t made very much progress on the second Gothic Spire, despite having carried it everywhere with me. I managed to knit a row on the way back to the city from a friend’s wedding, and that’s been about it. I’m expecting some more sock yarn any day now, including some more Fleece Artist for my own Gothic Spire socks, but I think I have to declare a moratorium on new sock projects until I’ve Kitchenered my last stitch of these.

I’ve also hit a bit of a roadblock on the baby kimono: I’ve run out of the yarn. I won’t have time to go downtown to search for more of the same dyelot in the yarn, so I decided to improvise. I’m ripping out the last of a different baby sweater I started in some navy-blue Mission Falls 1824 cotton to supplement the petal pink Cascade Luna (the majority of that blue yarn went into my first baby kimono). I’m really hoping that I can come up with something that looks like I’d planned it that way from the start. My original addition of two blue stripes didn’t quite do it, so now I have to guess if three or four stripes would work, or if I should consider thicker stripes. Then there’s always the possibility that I could rip back the cast on edge to add stripes there. I suppose that would free up some more yardage and make things match, but I just don’t know how fiddly it is to rip out in the “wrong” direction, and how much stress that would put on the yarn. After all, I wouldn’t want to give a chewed-up looking sweater.

Make Way for Eye Candy Friday

IMG_3579.JPG, originally uploaded by limonene.

And for another change of pace, this Friday I present some urban fauna. For the past several years, we’ve had a family of ducks nesting in one of the fountains on campus. They’ve really captured our affections–we’ve had world-class, prize-winning scientists buying food for them and admonishing the rest of the campus not to feed them junk, and the engineers built a floating ramp so the ducklings can scale the 8 inch high walls of the fountain more easily.

It’s a pretty nice perk to be able to have lunch outside in the garden and watch 10 or 11 ducklings and their mother paddling around, one that I’ve been anticipating for a few weeks. We were wondering exactly what kind of ducks they were yesterday, but today we got confirmation that they’re mallards (what with the father clearly being a mallard, and all).

We’ve jokingly been formulating a plan to duck-nap a couple of the ducklings and set up a race course for them in the hallway. We’re observing them closely, determining which ducklings have the speed, the agility, and the “will to win”. Of course we won’t go through with it, because we know nothing about duck husbandry, but it’s still fun to think about how adorable they’ll look in their little duck racing jerseys.

Heartbreaker

IMG_3561.JPG, originally uploaded by limonene.

Here’s the progress so far on the baby kimono. I must have gotten 5 inches done while I was at pub trivia last night. There’s nothing like straight garter stitch for knitting in dim rooms. I’ve been knitting solely from memory and formula thus far–I loaned my copy of the book to a friend–but I’m rapidly approaching the complicated part and I don’t know how good my improvisation skills are.

I’m a bit uncertain about the measurements on this thing, and whether they’ll actually fit a real baby. My gauge is, once again, much larger than I expected, so my 40 stitch cast on has given me a sweater that’s 11 inches wide. In the original pattern, and the last one of these I made, the length of the body to the arm increases is half of the width of the sweater. I followed that guideline again, but for some reason, the 6″ body seems a bit too short. I might have to add on an edging afterwards. I guess it’ll be something to look forward to seeing.

Dr. Bernie!

Bernie!, originally uploaded by limonene.

This weekend, former (boy, that’s difficult for me to write!) Yankee center fielder Bernie Williams received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Iona College. I really miss having Bernie with the team–and not just because he waved at me that one time I was sitting in the bleachers. There was just some kind of calmness about him that I think the team really could use. He spent 13 seasons with the team, so he’d seen it all. Deep down I know that it was time for him to go, but the fangirl in me definitely wishes that he could just have kept going forever. At least I’ll always have his album to listen to.

On the knitting front, I’ve done something that I believe that I might have sworn never to do: started another Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono in cotton yarn. I’m using Cascade Luna in a pretty lavender-pink instead of the Mission Falls 1824 Cotton, but the yarns do feel pretty similar. This time around I’m starting with 40 stitches instead of 36 in the hopes that it turns out even bigger than my first one (as the baby is already here), and I’m cramming my work onto too-short Bryspuns to make it easier on the hands. With a little luck, it’ll turn out as nice as this one:

Eye Candy Friday

Bottles, originally uploaded by limonene.

Lots of bottles were on display in the window of a housewares store on Sullivan Street. I loved how saturated most of the colors were, and how cheerful they all looked when they were sitting in the display case.

I’ve started the second Gothic Spire sock, and I’m mostly through the ribbing–I have two or three more rows to knit before I start the first chart. I’ve never really been a victim of Second Sock Syndrome (with the exception of my Traveling Socks on Bryspun dpns which I only work on on planes), but it does make for slightly dull photographs. After all, if I’m doing it right this sock should look just like the first one.

Koigu Anklets

Koigu Anklets, originally uploaded by limonene.

How far can one skein of Koigu take you? After finding a great single skein at Purl, I wanted to find out. I divided my skein, used the magic toe-up cast on and crossed my fingers. To accommodate the lacy stitch pattern that I liked, I ended up with 60 stitches on 2.5 mm needles. Because I didn’t want to completely deviate from my usual formula I stuck with a short row heel over 29 stitches, going down to 13 stitches. After all was said and done (and a little trial and error), I had enough yarn to do 4 pattern repeats on the cuff, followed by three rows of twisted k1 p1 ribbing.

When it came to binding off, though, I was feeling adventurous again. Even though transferring the knit and purl stitches to different needles was a very fiddly process (fraught with dropping stitches), I do have to admit that the sewn bindoff for k1 p1 ribbing is the nicest looking one that I’ve used to date. And since it’s the same as Kitchener stitching/grafting, once I got into it again, I was cruising along.

By the end of the second sock, I was casting off really quickly, hoping the yarn wouldn’t notice that it was about to run out. I may have been pulling the yarn a bit tighter than absolutely necessary, but the bindoff didn’t seem like it was stretched too tight. I’d take a picture of the leftover yarn, but I wove it all into the cuff.

So the answer to my question is: one pair of size 7 anklets with pretty much nothing to spare. Not too shabby.

I sure hope they hold up decently well, because I’m definitely going to make socks like this in the future. They went so fast, and this way, I can have pretty Koigu socks without the $25 investment. I’ll probably go with fewer than 60 stitches, however, because I like a bit more negative ease in my socks, and I will need to stick with lacy patterns–I don’t know if I could make it above the heel turn with a solid fabric.

Eye Candy Friday

IMG_2848.JPG, originally uploaded by limonene.

Here are a couple of photos of the sunset over the Long Island Sound, taken at my cousin’s wedding reception. It’s not often that it’s so pleasant to be outside in mid-April, but we were very lucky with the weather.

The colors were just amazing. In fact, the whole wedding was quite lovely.

Spring has sprung

IMG_3448.JPG, originally uploaded by limonene.

I’m still on my sock kick, but this time I’m doing something a little different. Despite having a rather healthy Koigu stash, I’ve never made socks out of it (I did knit the cabled purse from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, so it’s not like I’ve never used it). I also decided to give my usual round toe a rest and try a new toe-up cast on: the Magic Cast On from Knitty. The verdict? I have a funny little bump at one side of the toe, but I think that can be avoided on the next sock, and it’ll be a treat not to have to sew the toe of my sock closed.

I’m working with a lone skein of Koigu from Purl, and the yardage is definitely going to be tight. I started by casting on 20 stitches and increased up to 60, and I’m really hoping that I have enough yarn to get me through a short-row heel and a teensy cuff. To try to stretch what yarn I have, I’ve picked a lacy pattern: Stems from More Sensational Knitted Socks. I’m a little over 4 inches in already, and I’m enjoying how the pattern works with the spring-like colors:

The color stretches are a little bit longer than I expected from Koigu–my first attempt at the sock yielded a green instep and a purple sole–and a way-too-big sock–but decreasing by 4 stitches has made all the difference, I think.

I also finally got my order from Amazon: a cheap enamel pot for dyeing yarn, Going Solo in the Kitchen (an attempt to get myself cooking more again), a 2 gig SD card so I can take pictures to my little heart’s content at my 5-year reunion without running out of room, and Knitting Nature. As I take a closer look at it I’ll definitely write a fuller review. This may be heresy to say, but as with the patterns written by Guaghan that I’ve seen in magazines, there are some absolutely brilliant designs alongside some garments that are…oddly proportioned and just kind of strange. I’m looking forward to knitting some of the garments that I can wear, and I’ll pass on the ones that would look like they’re wearing me.

What a weekend!

IMG_3402.JPG, originally uploaded by limonene.

They say the third time’s the charm, and after finishing my first Gothic Spire sock (pattern by Cookie A), I have to agree. I finished the toe decreases, and got to the dreaded grafting. Once again, with the help of the Knitty tutorial, I cut my yarn and grabbed my trusty darning needle. I paid closer attention to which way the needle was pointing after drawing it through a loop, and at the end, I got this:

which tightened up into this:

By jove, I think I’ve got it!

Fresh off this victory, I’m looking forward to starting my next project (if socks are gifts for family, I just give one at first to make sure it fits). I’m going to be making another baby kimono, and I’m really looking forward to starting some shawls, even if I don’t have occasions in mind for the shawls yet. And then there’s the matter of a new traveling sock, which will definitely not involve charts this time.

The past couple of days have been quite a kick. I went to two birthday parties yesterday, the first of which was Derby themed. My streak of good luck when surrounded by the trivia night team that I sub with every now and then continued, so there’s some new yarn in my future. It was a great, really eclectic group of people too and I even got to meet Deadspin Will in person. I continued the socializing marathon later at night with a very different, but just as nice crowd. Good times.

And in the “all about the Salmons” file comes what’s perhaps the best news of the day. The Rocket is back in the Bronx! Brian Cashman, who might just have a potential career as a CIA operative if he gets tired of this whole GM thing, managed to sign Roger Clemens without anyone hearing a word about it beforehand. I admit that I soured on Clemens a bit when he pulled his “I’m retiring! Psych!” act a few years back, but now that he’s back in the fold, I take it all back. Not to mention that the good karma extended onto the field, where the team picked up their first shutout of the season. It was all super-exciting to watch.

Eye Candy Friday: Phil of the Future Edition

Phil of the Future, originally uploaded by limonene.

I’m returning to one of what will definitely be one of my favorite sources of material for “Eye Candy Friday”, the New York Yankees. Philip Hughes may only be twenty years old, which makes me feel rather ancient, but he threw 6.1 innings of no-hit baseball in Texas on Tuesday, before going down with a bad hamstring. He’ll be out for at least 6 weeks, but he had such amazing composure, both then, and during his major-league debut, the game this picture was taken before (despite getting knocked around a bit by Toronto), that I think he can go pretty far. Also pictured, standing behind him in the bullpen is pitching coach Ron “Gator” Guidry, who threw an 18 strikeout game for the Yankees in 1978.

Of course, not to be outdone by any member of the Yankee organization are the spring flowers around the campus. It’s wonderful to see the changes as the different plantings come into and out of bloom. Right now, the azaleas that are getting southern and eastern exposures are coming into their own:

And just a week or so ago we had the most adorable mini-daffodils blooming: