Watch it

I seem to have spent the entire last week spectating one event or another. I started out by watching the Yankees trounce the Mariners on Friday night.

It was rewarding to finally see the Yankees put some runs on the board and get a win, in a game that included some fancy baserunning by the Captain, a clean outing for Andy Pettitte, and an opposite field double by Jason Giambi (I know the last one is hard to believe, but it did happen).

I spent the rest of the weekend in Massachusetts meeting friends and going to parties of all sorts. I could have gone to Minds Eye Yarns out in Porter Square before attending a pottery painting wedding shower, but elected to stick around Somerville for their Memorial Day Parade instead.

In addition to marching bands, local politicians and veterans, the Somerville parade also features re-enactors of just about every war since the Revolution and a very healthy contingent of Shriners. I know that the Shriners do very, very good work, but I have never seen so many forms of miniaturized transportation in one place in my life.

Finally, I watched people lining up to watch Manhattanhenge:

I missed getting to see how things lined up at sunset though, because I was heading north, and Central Park blocks the view.

Unfortunately, one of the things that I *wasn’t* watching was what I was doing. I was so happy that I had finished knitting my second February Baby Sweater after knitting group that I didn’t really look too closely before washing it. If I had, I might have noticed a pretty crucial flaw:

I couldn’t get the sleeves to block out evenly because one sleeve is a lace repeat longer than the other. Did I mention that I didn’t realize this until the sweater was sopping wet? I had to wait a day for it to dry out before I could rip back and fix things (although I was sorely tempted to make a go at it when the sweater was merely damp), but now that I have, I’m feeling much better about the whole project. I still think it’s a darling little sweater, and if I had more babies in my life right now, I’d definitely be knitting even more of these.

Enchanted

I’ve read a bit about Elizabeth Zimmermann in knitting magazines, and I’ve picked up a couple of her books, but I had made it through several years of knitting without ever attempting one of her patterns.  It seemed like high time to fix that, with the February Baby Sweater on Two Needles from Knitters’ Almanac.  After all, how can you go wrong with garter stitch, a simple lace pattern and almost-seamless construction?

You really can’t.  The terseness of the directions was a bit alarming at first, as the entire thing is about half a page long, but sometimes things really are that simple.  This sweater is a very refreshing knit.

The details:

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Merino DK (just under 3 skeins, left over from Wicked
Needles: 4 mm
Buttons: From M&J Trimming
Notes: I took a page from Anne-Marie and made 3 buttonholes at the top of the sweater instead of all the way down the cardigan (I also took her advice to start the buttonholes before the pattern mentions doing them). The other main change I made to the pattern was to make it seamless by putting the stitches for the sleeves on hold until the body was done and then picking up stitches under the arm for knitting in the round.  I’m aiming for a 6-month size, but I know so little about the relative proportions of babies that I can only hope for the best.  The sweater is 11 inches wide, and 10 inches long, if that means anything.

What can you do when you’ve just finished what may be the sweetest baby sweater ever? Why, you cast on another one.

This one is Knitpicks Shine Sport in Orchid that was re-purposed from another intended project, and 3.75 mm needles instead of 4 mm. It’s going even faster than the first one now that I’ve figured out what I’m doing, and I bought the cutest little duck buttons at Tender Buttons on 62nd St.

And speaking of ducks. . .

They’re back!

It’s in the bag

My Everlasting Bagstopper is complete! I bound off during the Sit ‘n’ Knit Sock Exchange Party, which was especially appropriate, because I’d won the yarn at one of the group’s parties. I ended up supplementing the skein of Allhemp 6 I’d won with a second skein from Knitty City because my attempt at making a one-skein bag wasn’t working out, and it was definitely worth it to have a proportional-looking tote. Despite my casting on 4 fewer stitches for the base and using US 10 needles instead of US 10.5 needles, the bag turned out huge, and it expands to fit pretty much anything that I could want to carry in it. I’m a little nervous about how sturdy the job I did sewing the handles on will be, but hopefully I reinforced it enough. I’m not usually a fan of knitting with plant fibers (they’re really tough on my hands), but the hemp yarn wasn’t too hard to work with, and this bag sure does knit up quickly. I’m also a big fan of the bright saturated green color of the yarn. It really “pops” in person.

The grosgrain ribbon that I’m using as handles was purchased during my first-ever excursion to M&J Trimming. I bought 1.5 yards, but I ended up only using about a yard of it total. This is a very large, very stretchy bag, and longer handles than that would have resulted in bruised knees. I also picked up some absolutely darling daisy buttons for another project. I was really impressed by the selection of ribbons, and buttons and laces and stuff that they sell there, and I’m looking forward having an excuse to go back. Perhaps my bagstopper will need a drawstring closure after all. . .

Despite the chilly evenings and fluctuating temperatures, there are still plenty of reminders that spring has actually arrived in the city. The lilacs are in bloom in Central Park and elsewhere.

I came across a large stand of them by the Sheep Meadow when I was cutting across the park on my way home from Knitty City.

I’m not used to seeing lilacs that are this particular shade of pink-purple, but I like it. And anything that makes the city smell nice for a few weeks a year is much appreciated.

Super-secret socks

A while back I posted a picture of some sock yarn I was casting on, and then I never mentioned it again. That wasn’t because I had flitted on to a new project in the meantime (for once), but because the project in question was for my knitting group’s secret sock exchange, and I didn’t want to spill the beans. But our socks have been swapped, and can now be revealed:

They’re Pomatomus by Cookie A. from Knitty, and they’re in Fleece Artist Nova Sock in Amethyst. I made them for my sock partner, Nicole, who has awesome taste in yarn, hobbies, and spectator sports (although she may be a bit misguided in which team she roots for). Anne-Marie did a great job in partnering us up based on our mutual love of baseball, and this is yet another example of how knitting has allowed me to meet people who are just all around super-cool

And here are the adorable socks that I got in exchange (see, it wasn’t a pyramid scheme at all!). They’re in Socks that Rock Silkie, and are simultaneously cushy, cozy, and really snazzy looking. Pretty much all of my favorite colors are in there, and I love them.

At the end of the exchange, we took a group sock shot.

An afternoon with happy feet, all around!

Garden party

There’s nothing like an early-spring jaunt to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. When J was in town early in April, we headed out there to see the beginnings of the cherry tree blossoms.

At the time, the cherry tree map (mouse over the tree symbols for pictures) indicated that there were only a couple of trees in bloom, but they were definitely worth seeing.

Most of the cherry blossom action was happening around the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden. The pond is well stocked with koi, who clearly expected us to feed them, and ducks, who were fighting over their turf. There were so many ducks in the garden that day that pretty much every body of water that was duck-width or wider had a few ducks in it.

Of course, there’s a lot more to the garden than the cherry trees. They had fountains and bunnies. There are plenty of garden walks that are nicely landscaped, as well as a series of conservatories that are connected underground. The tops of the conservatories poke out into the paved area where the snack bar is, and it’s altogether a pretty efficient use of space.

This was my indication of what a classy place the Botanic Garden is. They have Society Garlic–none of that riff-raff garlic for them.

They had a few really neat looking bonsai as well. I really admired the ones that were grown over and around large rocks. It’s a form that I’m not so familiar with.

While we were still at the garden, J was kind enough to re-enact winter for a few moments so I could get a picture of him in his Be True To Your School Scarf. Now that I’ve gotten to see it in person, I’m so happy with how it turned out, and that he liked it.