AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

counting projects

I don't know how long it takes you to knit a sock (not a pair, because sometimes that takes much, much longer), but I finished the first of the MIL socks yesterday.  Ten days to knit a single sock.  It's a good thing that Christmas is more than a month away, because two pairs means another 30 days.  Time enough to finish that and a scarf or two.

A good thing (and the Loopy Ewe is having a sale this weekend, so picking up the yarn for the scarf is a must) that I don't have too many irons in the fire.  Hey you, yes, you!  Stop sniggering.

Two sets of stuffed animals (almost all of the knitting is done, so work it up on Friday), 1 felted item, a pair of socks is not too much.  Especially, because I'm ignoring the socks for me, and a couple of started tops (oh Vestish) until at least two of those are done!  It's not like I'm trying to do 10 or more projects all at the same time.  Nope.  With me, I have a rather sane: 5.  Not too much at all.

Nope.  Nosiree bob.

OK, maybe I'm doomed.  But I will still take the time and bake this weekend.  For the Halloween party (and my compatriot in spicy sweets), I plan on making cupcakes about half of which will be filled with a sweet/spicy molé sauce.  Another party is getting the eggnog pie (super easy pudding pie is definitely not work.  Stopping the hubby and myself from eating it before it arrives at its destination definitely work).  And refiguring the Schadenfreude pie into cake.  I can always knit while it is in the oven!

a little update

This past weekend was full of cooking fail.  I attempted to make a no-bake version of the Schadenfreude Pie by converting it into an ice cream pie.  However, there is so much sugar in the Schadenfreude Pie that it just wouldn't set up.  Even after being in the freezer for a couple of days.

I refused to let that be the end of it, and I started researching torte recipes online.  The average torte recipe that I looked at had 6 eggs (the main source of leavening), which are separated.  The sugar/chocolate/fat mixture is beaten with the yolks until it changes color and becomes ribbony (usually a two step process of beating the eggs and then beating the eggs with the mixture).  The egg whites are beaten with sugar and cream of tartar to stiff peaks and then slowly and gently folded into the cake mixture.  I am thinking that I can ressurect the pie as a Schadenfreude cake instead without too much fear of it going horribly wrong.  We'll see.  Suffice to say that I will not be adding any more sugar at this stage of the proceedings.

But doing all of that research and knowing I wanted to make filled cupcakes for my Southern friend started me on a frenzy of blog reading about cupcakes, filling techniques and recipes.  Oh my goodness, the recipes.  I am on a web-induced sugar high without any sugar at all!

My favorites so far (so I don't forget them):

• Baking Bites, especially the holiday cupcakes and the Homemade SnoBall cupcakes
• Cupcake Blog (now closed)... I can hardly pick a favorite to try first, though quite a few sound delicious!
• Bakerella, especially the cupcake balls (these I've made!  Yummy)

Of course, all of these sweets are going to make it awfully hard to finish all of the knitting (and throw in two more rehearsals this week and the schedule is super full). Think I can make cake and filled cupcakes on Friday?

one, two, three

I finished the Vortex Street Pullover from Knitting Nature late Saturday, October 18th, just in time to wear it to Rhinebeck.  I've worn it twice since then, which is pretty good for me.  My previous sweaters with the notable exception of Tangled Yoke were all too uncomfortable or loose to wear.  Many of them are still in pieces, because seaming is often the breaking point for me.

I used Woolease from the stash in order to make room for my Rhinebeck goodies.  It made me feel good to get such a chunk of yarn out of the way.  I'll probably make this again with a higher quality yarn (even the Plymouth Encore would be better), because I can't imagine this sweater being wearable except around the house within 2 years. 

I was bad when I made this.  I did no blocking.  I just didn't have time.  With our condo being possibly looked at whenever, I couldn't leave my knitting to block on the rug and I never managed to take up my friend on blocking it at her place.  Simply ran out of time.

The best thing about this project was also the worst.  I had to knit the cabled placket twice.  Just reading the pattern (gauge part) indicated that the placket would be about 3 inches longer than the rest of the piece, so when I had 3 extra inches and 20 rows to go I ripped.  The second attempt was done one needle size down (so I used 5 and 7 for the main piece and 5 and 6 for the middle) and still felt long.  Seaming it in resulted in my winging the last 6 inches or so, and hoping that I wasn't going to have a bump or otherwise unfortunate bulge around the neck.

Well, I sort of do and someday I'll actually give this a real blocking and see if it can go away.  It's relatively subtle and a much less painful flaw than I would have expected given my lack of practice.

Of course, I haven't been doing nothing since then.  I started two projects on the bus ride to the festival and have been working on another one at home, all of which should be done and mailed this week except my travel project (really one of the other two projects should be my travel project).

Having projects with deadlines is not exactly new.  Normally they are internal deadlines, so if I don't make them I don't have someone asking about the project.  The biggest problem with deadline knitting is the roving eye.  I've been looking at lace projects, cable projects, and imagining what yarns I would use for the Wrap Dress from Knit So Fine... it's a good thing I can knit and daydream at the same time or nothing would be getting done!

in time for pie (scrambled brain edition)

I'm wearing my Vortex Street Pullover again today, even though I haven't taken a single picture of it yet.  I forgot the camera brain so no pictures this morning, and by tonight it might be too late.  Regardless, it is done and despite its flaws I love it.  Maybe tomorrow I'll contrive to get a picture or two, though I'm really not sure.

A couple of my friends is having their second annual pie party this weekend.  I couldn't go last year, and well this time the oven done broke.  The baking element is not heating (though the broiler one on top is doing its best to get things hot).  I think I'll still be making pie, but it will be a pudding pie or an ice cream pie.  It's too bad about the oven, because when it gets a little brisk there is nothing better than fresh bread or cookies smelling up the air!

In lieu of pie, this weekend there will be knitting.  I have a project I want to finish (I want to mail it on Monday) and another that it would be really cool if I could get done too (Halloween kind of snuck up on me this year).  Per normal, the rabid procrastinator is behind this weekend rush, but I still have hopes to finish it all in time!  (One tasty pie, two sets of stuffies, 3 unmatched socks, 4 photos for the blog, 5 mugs of coffee!)

Rhinebeck was my free day

I went to Rhinebeck with an allowance of sorts (cash only, all cards left behind, super limits to the amount of danger I could fall into), which was a great idea!  Rhinebeck was so wonderfully overwhelming that I was hard pressed to remember where some things were if I didn't buy them right away. 

The sweater that I had just finished was a total of 7 skeins, so I told myself that was the most I could buy.  I knew I wanted to buy yarn for the February Lady Sweater, something with a bit more color depth than I could get from a skein of Cascade 220 as it were, but not quite as dear as the Sundara yarn that the original was knit in (umm, yes, I drooled quite unattractively). I wanted the sweater to be about the same cost as it would be in Cascade 220, and I'm just between the sizes for the XXS/XS (mostly because I prefer a close fit for most of my clothing).  I also wanted to have the option to fall hard for other yarns... and oh yes, I did.

This will be the yarn for my February Lady Sweater:
 

At first glance it is just a nice, saturated blue, but it is really more than that.  It has hints of purple and brighter bits of almost magenta.  I have a close up, but I'm not going to use it.  It's just not the easiest to photograph.  Especially in my normal lack-of-natural light conditions.

Then K- and I went back to the laceweight (well, and some wondering around before that) and fell down hard!  I buy laceweight like some people eat potato chips.  With a reasonable thrifty mind, laceweight is the best bang for the knitter dollar.  It offers beautiful generous yardage, takes a goodly amount of time to knit up, and is often disgustingly gorgeous.  The biggest bang for my laceweight dollar is the Misti Alpaca, because those skeins are really affordable, but that doesn't mean I won't buy pricier laceweight...

Like  these:

  

The top is the Cashmere Silk from the Skacel both.  It's the only non-blue thing I got and is wonderfully soft.  It isn't quite enough yardage for any of the big shawls, but it is certainly enough for a Flowerbasket or similarly sized shawl.  Gorgeous!

The bottom is a slightly smaller than average skein of Clotho from Spirit Trail.  It's blue!  It's semi-solid! And at 437 yards is big enough for shawl or a stole.  There quite a number of options available from a quick search in Ravelry!

a good knitblogger has photos

I'm not nearly so skilled, so while I did take photos of some of the animals that all stopped within my first 20 minutes on the site.  As I entered through the main gate, the first animals were more like a children's petting zoo rather than a 4-H fair.

Most of these were for my hubby, because really Monkeys!

A cute little goat!  It's not the best picture in the world, but I was trying to not take pictures with the flash.  I find it disturbing enough and I know what is going on.  I can't imagine having bright lights going off in my face all day long.

This ring tailed lemur is mostly for my hubby.  He's looking directly at me and saying, "What do you want?"  Seemed appropriate.  I mostly feel the same way when people surprise me with a question or something.   

 This lemur didn't want to play.  Just sticking his butt out at us for all the world to see.  Silly emo lemur (though admittedly if I were in a cage I'd be emo and antisocial too).

I didn't get any other pictures while I was there.  Not of animals, potential stash, food, or people.  I had the camera in my pocket and extra batteries in my bag and it just didn't matter.  I was much more interested in exploring my surroundings and petting all of the sheep that would deign to come close enough than I was in testing the limits of my photography skills.

I did finish something last week (umm, the sweater I wanted to finish for Rhinebeck actually) and I did buy some yarn, so there will be more pictures later this week.  It is just that they will all be in the local lack-of-ambient-light conditions that occur when you do all of your photography before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m.  It's autumn in New England!

the kindnesses of strangers

The day after my first Rhinebeck trip is a little like a hangover, or at least what I imagine a hangover would be.  I am tired and a little sore.  I'm happy I had the time there and I wonder what I missed in my "Ooh, shiny" approach to exploring the space.

I'll probably blather about the trip most of the week, so please forgive me.

I enjoyed the trip, but I almost didn't get to go.  I left my condo with the intention of walking to Quincy Adams at about 5:15 in the morning.  Three miles away.  I thought that there might be an underpass along the path to possibly cut some of the time.  Heck, I didn't think to write out the directions, and so I dared a few of the side streets and then a few more.  I walk jogged and at about 5:57 a car was driving by and I waved.  "Can you tell me how far I am from Quincy Adams?"  I probably sounded a little frazzled.

"Pretty far.  Would you like a ride?"

This nice guy (probably a few years younger than me) drove me to the T where I met up with the rest of the people catching the bus from QA.  The route was just long enough that I would have been another 20 minutes walking, provided I didn't get (more) horribly lost.  I hate to ask for the kindness of strangers, but I was so thankful to receive it. 

If I do this next year, I think I'm going to ask for a departure of about 5 minutes later, so I can just take the T.  Or practice the walking route, so I don't get lost along the way.

changing directions

My Rhinebeck sweater needs to be finished tomorrow.  I am no further along than I was at the beginning of the week when I finally finished the cable panel.  I'm seam phobic or something.  Well, mostly or something.  I had rehearsal on Thursday and game tonight, so it really all is going to happen on Saturday. 

Finishing the sweater doesn't probably matter to most people, but somewhere along the line I changed my mind about stashing-along.  Not that I am not going to do it, but that the goal wasn't a reduction in yarn as much as a breaking even.  I need to finish the sweater, so I buy yarn.  It's that simple.

Since August (when I decided to do this), I have finished a pair of socks, Picovoli, the Swiss Cheese scarf and the Pi Shawl (6 skeins) and I have acquired as gifts, purchases, etc. 6 skeins of yarn (all for making gifts).  The sweater is 7 skeins worth of yarn, enough that I could buy yarn for another sweater.

I want to make another sweater...

I really want to wear the one I've been working on to Rhinebeck...

Simple problem really.  Just 6 seams and a neckline.  An hour a piece (let's project slow, shall we?) and I'll be done in time to take a good snooze before the evening is out!

But just in case, let's cross our fingers please.

Harlot... she is our hero!

I'd apologize to TMBG, but it just feels right. 

I saw the Yarn Harlot last night in Porter Square.  It was weird for me, because the event was in a church, not my normal environment.  She came out and there was applause and humor and wonderful stories and a reading from her latest book.  I didn't stay after the Q&A (and I didn't take pictures, because I didn't think to bring the camera with me).  The event was a lot of fun, but kind of sad too.  Everyone came across as a little tired.  That much ambient fatigue in the air must have been hard to work through.  The laughter just wasn't as loud or boisterous.  Just another Wednesday night. 

Of course, I'm probably projecting, because I was exhausted.  Waking up at 2 a.m. will do that to a body after all.

I don't get to knit with people (that is, other knitters) around very often anymore.  I used to go to Circles, but after the move something happened.  It was hard enough to get there before, and even though the new location wasn't that much further, the extra 15-20 minutes just felt insurmountable. So, it was a nice feeling, knitting in the church before (and during) the Yarn Harlot experience.  I was working on the secret project, and looking at all of the beautiful scarves and shawls being knit around me.  The secret project is going pretty well.  I love that it is so fast!  I know why so many people knit the toys now, because this little dude was completely knit (none of the seaming, just all the pieces made) last night.  I started him on the train ride to work and he was done being knit before bed.  Wow!

I started the second one this morning and will probably finish it before Friday.  It will be nice relaxing knitting also for the bus ride to Rhinebeck on Sunday (I get to seam up a sweater on Saturday, so I will be too busy to knit most likely).  See you all then!

the importance of training

Somewhere along the line I fell down hard.  I ran the half marathon in the spring with inadequate training, and didn't learn my lesson.  I ran the Tufts 10K for Women (results) yesterday, and while I did better than I had any right to given the number of outdoor runs I've done in the last three months I still feel like I'm letting myself down.  Not sure if that makes any sense to anyone else, but it does to me.

I ran the 10K in an 11:11 min/mile pace, almost 1.5 min/mile slower than my best pace.  The power of training indeed.  Of course, I'm planning on running this (and the half marathon) again next year, but I won't get any better if I don't put the training in.  Not treadmill training either.  Something about running on a treadmill does horrible things to my stride mechanics, so my street runs become these agonizing endurance events with my hips popping out of alignment after about a mile or so (ask me how I know).

The run wasn't the only thing that I did this weekend.  I ripped back the center panel of the Vortex Street Pullover.  I realized that not only was I not getting row gauge, but I was drastically not getting it.  Of course, for the size I'm knitting the body is 24 inches long and by gauge that middle panel is supposedly about 27 inches.  Makes me a little freaked out, because I'm not the most experienced finisher.  How would you ease in another 3 inches of fabric?  Yeah, I'm not sure but I figure that 3 inches to ease in is a lot better than the 5-6 inches I was going to have if I continued!

I'm still hoping to finish the top before Rhinebeck, but if not I have a couple of other knit tops (mostly summery) that I can wear instead. I want to buy yarn for a sweater while I am there, and I think I'll be looking for a nice worsted weight that I can make into the February Lady Sweater.  So, 50 rows of the middle panel, blocking, sewing, and the turtleneck top.  I think I can finish by Saturday provided I don't have to camp outside of my condo too many evenings in a row!