In the green

Sit ‘n’ Knit NYC had its spring party last night, and in honor of Earth Day, we had a cup cozy competition. I got a late start on mine, casting on the night before, getting a few rows in and then knitting feverishly throughout the event to try to finish it in time (I came close, but didn’t quite make it. Note to self: when knitting for speed, avoid sport weight yarn). The winning cozy of the evening was a very pretty green color and was laced up with a matching satin ribbon, and unfortunately I didn’t write down the knitter’s name. As always, I had a great time chatting with everyone, and came away with several different projects to try in the future, including the Maude sweater, which is really cute in person. I also won one of the door prizes in a raffle! It’s the skein of Hemp for Knitting Allhemp 6, in color 019, a beautiful spring green. In keeping with the green theme of the evening, I think I’ll turn the yarn into a shopping bag. I might see how much of the Everlasting Bagstopper I can get out of one skein and pick up a second skein if needed.

All too soon it was time for me to head down to Brooklyn for my regular pub quiz night. I felt bad having to run out of the party early (especially after winning the raffle), but in the end, I’m glad I did. It turned out that none of the other teams of two at the pub quiz wanted to join forces, so if I’d flaked out, my friend D. would have been playing alone, which can’t be much fun. The fact that the two of us somehow snatched victory from the jaws of defeat certainly didn’t hurt either.

Although I didn’t manage to get all the way through my cup cozy at the knitting party, between the subway ride and the quiz I had time to finish knitting and bind it off. Here’s my cup cozy moonlighting as a soda cozy at pub quiz.

And here’s my cozy doing the job it was intended for on my midmorning coffee. I sure am glad that I picked yarn that is busy, superwash and heavy on the brown for this project because I’ve already managed to spill coffee on it. I have a feeling that this cozy is going to be getting washed on a very regular basis. But hey, it keeps my hand cool and my coffee warm, and what more can I ask from an evening’s worth of knitting?

Here Come the Yankees

It felt so good to be back at Yankee Stadium for my first game of the year that I almost didn’t mind the final result of the game. Andy Pettitte was making his first start after being on the DL that April 5th, and while he wasn’t 100% yet, and was clearly very tired during his last inning, he didn’t look too bad overall. Now, the Yankee bats on the other hand…let me just say that I have the utmost confidence that they will warm up as the weather does (and let me also wish Derek, Jorge and Jose continued and speedy recoveries from their respective injuries).

We were lucky enough to go to a game on the one nice day of the weekend, and our section (14, the no-alcohol section on the third base side of the upper deck) was positively warm and sunny. I could have used one or two fewer layers of clothing and one or two more layers of sunscreen.

Another nice thing about the game was getting to see some of the young pitchers in action. Ross Ohlendorf got some work in (although he did give up a solo home run), and at one point Joba Chamberlain was up in the bullpen.

However, every trip to Yankee Stadium from here on out will be bittersweet, because they’ve put a “regular season countdown clock” up above the bleachers.

After each game is “official”, someone who was affiliated with the team lowers the number by one. Joe Pepitone did the honors at our game.

I also finished the toe and got into the striped portion of my homestand socks (pictured with Alex Rodriguez in the distance). As it turns out, I didn’t quite get the stripes the right length, as the navy blue doesn’t extend for a full two rows. I can get things pretty close by changing my stitch count from the original planned measurements, and by watching my gauge I can ensure that the little jog is on the bottom of my foot.

I got a good bit of knitting done between attending that game and watching games on TV. I’d also like to invite recommendations for a good scorecard book. I’m planning to go to at least 8 more games, and the scorecard/programs that they sell at the Stadium add up very quickly at $7 a pop. The one posed with my sock also contained a poster of Derek Jeter and a recipe for French Toast (if I recall correctly),

Oh, and on this day in 1980, Tommy John pitched a complete game, 2-hit shutout for the Yankees against the Chicago White Sox. While I’ve decided to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the event with some (more) yarn in my favorite family of colors, I’m rooting for recent birthday-boy Chien-Ming Wang to celebrate with a similar performance against some Sox of a different color.

Things I Learned from Knitting Book Signings

This past Wednesday, I had a choice of two talks to go to: one by Frank Gehry, and one by knitting blogger Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. From the picture above, you can guess which event I picked. I’m not at all fond of most of Gehry’s work (and in fact, my alma matter is suing him), but I regularly wear a hat that Stephanie designed, and will probably be making another version of it in a different color, so it ended up being an easy decision.

Because I had allowed myself extra time in case of crosstown traffic, I arrived at the bookstore 50 minutes early, to find no free chairs. The staff there seemed a little shocked that enough people had showed up to fill every chair that they had for special events, but they were in pretty good spirits anyway (I commented to one of them how he’d have his picture on so many blogs tomorrow morning, and he expressed surprise that knitting was so popular). The talk was definitely worth sticking around for.  I’m not a neuroscientist, so I can’t vouch for the discussion of brainwaves, but she did really sum up how different and hard to categorize knitters are, all the while making sure to interject some of the humor inherent in crafting to keep us all, er, in stitches.  After it was all said and done, I picked up a copy of her latest book, and hung around to have it autographed. In that photo, I’m holding the Traveling Sock, and she’s holding the center of my latest project, the Fir Cone Shawl from Folk Knits:

My other favorite part of these book signings is all the interesting people I meet. Last year, and the year before I met Penny, who gave me the push I needed to start my own blog. This year I spent the time on line with Kate, and several other really cool knitters whose urls I didn’t catch to link to. We also got to admire Glenna’s gorgeous Venezia pullover, which has really inspired me to get with the colorwork. I’m not quite ready for it on that level–her sweater was beautiful inside and out–but I have the yarn for the Ivy League Vest, which should be a good jumping off point.  So really, for the second year in a row, going to a book reading has made me a braver knitter, and who can ask for more than that?