52 in 52 Project #21

My modification of the Back to School washcloth from Spring 2009 Knitty

Lily Sugar 'n Cream Cotton Yarn

Still trying very hard to be current.  This is week #23 according to my calendar.  I'm two weeks behind but I have a number of UFO's that have the potential to "save my bacon."  Let's see what happens...

Traveling

The alarm went off at 4:45 AM. It’s my mother’s alarm clock, one I purchased for her after my father died and she had trouble waking up. For years, he was her alarm clock, never allowing her to sleep much past 7 AM. Once he was gone she began to have real trouble getting up at all. Part of that, I believe, was depression. On the other hand, she may have always wanted to sleep later than 7 but was aware my father needed her company.

My mom had trouble hearing a conventional alarm clock, something I’m very familiar with. Once I take my hearing aids out at bedtime, the world is a very quiet place. So, I bought her a clock aptly named “Sonic Boom.” I’m not sure she ever used it and as we were clearing out her apartment last June, I claimed it.

I’m invariably awake every morning by 6 AM at the latest. Most days I’m up having my coffee before 5:30. Today, in order to make a 6:30 plane to California, I had to be up at 4:45 AM. Having to be up that early always causes some anxiety. I usually don’t hear the regular alarm clock. I can rely on Dick, but I thought it would be an opportunity to try the Sonic Boom to see how effective it is. The alarm clock not only has a very loud alarm; it also connects to the bedside light, causing it to flash off and on at the selected time.

I am happy to report the clock worked well. The alarm sounded and the light flashed. It woke me up. I don’t know if it also awoke our upstairs neighbor. It was pretty loud if I heard it without my hearing aids.

The flight from Newark to San Francisco left on time in spite of heavy rain. I think it was the first time I’ve been on a large plane flown by a woman. The flight was uneventful and arrived in SF on time. I had a window seat and once we were out of the cloudy, wet New York area, the views were amazing. It’s so interesting to see how the landscape changes as you travel west across the continent.

I’m now waiting for the connecting flight to Eureka/Arcata. I had hoped to post live, but the free local wi-fi does not seem to be working and T-Mobile put me through such an ordeal to get a one hour pass that I gave up. Every time I filled out the form, it was rejected for some minor reason. T-Mobile then totally cleared the form expecting me to start over. Even with auto fill, it just wasn’t worth the trouble.

When I wasn’t looking out the window, I was working on knitting projects. I took some progress pictures in the airport. Carlos is so close to being finished:

And, Laughing Carrots is really coming along:

My goal is to finish those two and Oriental Lily before it’s time to fly home.

Various

I had intended to blog regularly while here in Vermont at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy meeting but when I unpacked I discovered I had forgotten the cord for downloading photos from the camera to the computer. What a bummer. As a result, I haven't been very motivated to take pictures.

It's been a good meeting, at Castleton State College in Castleton, Vermont. It's a pleasant enough campus although there is a lot of construction going on. The most annoying aspect of this is the constant beeping of the back-up alarms on the various pieces of machinery. Work starts at around 7 AM and today, at least, is still going on at 5:10 PM. It's been great to see old friends, particularly the women from Maryland who hiked with me when I was completing Pennsylvania, West Virginia and parts of Virginia. I ran into a man who hiked the Tour du Mont Blanc with us all those many years ago and the sister of a Whiting neighbor who lives in Wisconsin. I only see her at these biennial events.

I had registered for a different trail segmant every day except Monday. Saturday, on a hike designated moderate, with a steep uphill climb at the outset, I developed symptoms of heat stroke about a mile in. There was a doctor in the group who stayed with me, helping to cool me down, while the group continued on without us. Ultimately we returned to our cars and drove back to the campus. That was a disappointment. The next day, on another section with a similar elevation gain, the leader went more slowly and I was able to complete the hike. The weather was a bit cooler and less humid, but I wasn't moving along as quickly as I did last year. I think it's a result of my not keeping up with an exercise regimen.

Monday was the biennial meeting. Afterward I went biking on the Delaware and Hudson rail trail with a group. We biked down to Poultney, had some ice cream and biked back.

There has been quite a bit of rain in Vermont this summer and the trails are very muddy. I decided not to hike again because of my lack of stamina (didn't want to be holding other hikers up) and because I was tired of the mud. I've been taking a power walk each day on the rail trail and then spending time knitting and listening to books on my Ipod. I finished The White Tiger by Avarind Adiga and Made in the USA by Billie Letts.

I've got about ten inches done on the body of the Laughing Carrots sweater and I'm about ready to do the waffle trim before I start the carrot pattern and I was drawn back to the pink charity sweater for some reason. I've finished the cuff on one sleeve, almost completed the garter stitch edging on the body and am also working on the second sleeve (both at the same time--don't ask--it's knitting ADD). I don't have too much to finish on the Carlos growling dog sweater and the sleeves need finishing on the Oriental Lily dress. Carlos and Oriental Lily need to be finished before I go to Cali on July 31. I just can't seem to focus on one project at a time but I do ultimately get everything done.

No photos to post because of the missing cord. I'll get some up when I get home.

Tomorrow I'm meeting my sister, brother-in-law and nephew to hike a section of the AT over near Woodstock. Going south to north, which is my preferred direction, it's only 400 feet of elevation gain. Since I did 1500 on Sunday, albeit near the back of the pack, I should be able to manage. I'm really looking forward to seeing them.

Then it's time to head home.

Moving Along

Back in June I did a post on Acute Startitis, my diagnosis for the situation in which I found myself. Having nine unfinished projects was a shock to me. I discovered the total number when I cleaned up and reorganized the stash. At that time I made a commitment to get them finished before I started anything new. I've been plugging along and I've decided to do another update. I've made some progress on three projects. I wish I could show you something that's complete, but two of my projects are so close I can almost taste it.

The Opal Lily dress has one sleeve nearly finished.


Carlos, aka, Growling Dog, has one sleeve and the neck finished. I had a hard time picking up the same number of stitches for the second sleeve, but I think it will be okay. I hope to finish this one tonight at Knit Group. It's made of Berroco Comfort DK and I'm not very happy with this yarn. It's soft but it's very splitty. I really think this sweater would be much nicer if the pattern were rewritten for worsted weight yarn.


And, this is Decimal--doesn't look like much, does it? I frogged it today. I really didn't like the way it was shaping up. The original pattern called for a DK weight yarn and I thought I could make it with a worsted weight because I'm such a tight knitter. It just didn't look right and I haven't done any work on it since we got back from Florida. That in itself is a sign that it's a project that is just not meant to be. I'll have to find something new for the yarn.

Digression

I had been plugging along on Decimal for almost two weeks and making a goodly amount of progress when I suddenly grew bored and restless. I needed to start another project!! I've written before about my knitting ADD. I need to have more than one project going at a time so I can switch back and forth. Usually it's a big project and one or two small projects but this time I had an itch to start something complicated, with color work.

In November, at Stitches East, I bought two large balls of Kauni EM (scarlet, crimson and red-violet) thinking they would make a nice sweater for DH. I knew I would need to combine a second color but I didn't want to do the standard rainbow effect--couldn't see how that would work in a man's sweater. On my first visit to the Lion Brand Studio in NYC I saw just the thing. A large cone of charcoal gray, very fine wool. I grabbed it.

I'm doing my own modification of both the Kauni design pattern and the sweater pattern. The classic Kauni rainbow pattern has stripes and small squares. The color changes in Kauni are very long making it possible to use two skeins, started at opposite ends of the rainbow, and achieve a moving color pattern. I'm using one mostly red skein juxtaposed against the solid charcoal.

The original pattern is done in the round, all in one piece (a very large tube) and then, horrors!, cut or steeked to make openings for the sleeves and the button front. I'm just not ready to cut my knitting so I've widened the stripes and plan to approach this as a standard man's sweater with dropped sleeves. I'll knit in a tube until I get to the arm holes, divide the front and back and knit them separately until I get to the neck. I'll join the shoulders, pick up stitches and knit the sleeves.

Here's a photo of my progress so far:


In the next section, the squares will be red and the background will be gray. This pattern will alternate up the sweater--red with gray squares followed by gray with red squares. I think it's going to be quite handsome.

Decimal Progress

Decimal Sleeve wip
Originally uploaded by rallaronson

I'm making progress on the decimal sweater and I'm really enjoying the lace pattern. I'm relieved to report the sleeve measures exactly the width the pattern requires. Of course, my sleeve will be straight rather than flared because I eliminated the gussets. The color is not totally accurate in the photo. The actual shade is a bit less pink and more mango colored.

Spring Knitty

IMGP9704=02-02-09-web
Originally uploaded by snowdenbecker

The Spring Issue of Knitty was released last evening. In a quick review of the patterns Decimal by Snowden Becker immediately caught my eye. It's a beautiful summer sweater and I had just the yarn for it in my stash. And, I had just finished the gansey so I don't have to feel guilty about casting on for a new project. I went through my stash and came up with 12 skeins of Plymouth Bella Colour in what I would call a Mango colorway. It's a little heavier than the yarn suggested in the pattern but I knit so tightly and have so much trouble getting gauge that this might work.
The sleeves are very flared. Rather than knit a swatch (a swatch! when do I ever bite the bullet and knit a swatch?) I decided to cast on for one sleeve and see how wide it was with the gussets that make it flare. It was much too wide! The pattern itself, though is easy to follow and it really is attractive knit up. I frogged the sleeve and cast on again for only enough stitches to create it without the gussets. I'm almost to the place where I was when I decided to frog. This is going to be fun, just enough challenge with the lace pattern to keep my interest.

I'm Tickled Pink about Mr. Greenjeans who Happens to be Mostly Blue

Mr. Greenjeans finished
Originally uploaded by rallaronson

Another project from the First 100 Days Knit-a-long (KAL) in the Knitters for Obama Group is finished. I started Mr. Greenjeans in October of 2008. I got involved in other projects and Mr. Greenjeans languished in my knitting bag without sleeves or button band for many months. It's a bit snug on me, but blocking will help to stretch it.

The First 100 Days KAL has provided motivation and encouragement. Two promised UFO's are now finished and there are two to go.

Finishing Sonnet

Here is the photo I promised of Sonnet; that is, Sonnet as a work in progress. Finishing is something I don't look forward to. My seams are often lumpy. I'm very happy with the way the various parts turned out and I have buttons I bought in France. Everytime I wear it I will remember working on it during our trip and the wonderful time we had.

Getting Excited

Dick and I leave for France on Friday. We'll be joining our daughter, Jackie in Orleans and will be walking from village to village in the Loire Valley. Dick has worked for weeks figuring the mileage and searching the internet for small hotels or B & B's. He's lined up all the walks and the accomodations for the first 10 days. Then Jackie will go back to Paris and Dick and I will continue for a few more days on our own.

We've done this kind of trip before using an outfitter that booked the hotels and ferried the luggage. This time we will be carrying everything we need on our backs. I've carefully selected things for my pack and it weighs about 17 pounds. I think we will manage fine.

It's a strange time for me. My last day of work is October 12 so I will work two more weeks after we return home. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up. The powers that be at the agency are already campaigning for me to stay on in some capacity doing home studies or staff training or both. I will be negotiating with them when I come back. I'm so ambivalent. I want some time off to play but doing a bit of contract work would sure help pay for my health insurance. I have to COBRA for ten months and it is really expensive!!

I'm hard at work on Sonnet. I've finished the second arm hole and am nearing the finish of the front shoulder. It's almost time to decrease for the neck. I don't think I will finish before we leave (I have to do the sleeves) and I won't be bringing it to France because everything I bring I have to carry. I'm going to bring the sock project instead because it's small.

Sonnet

Browsing on Knitty and on Flickr I've seen many versions of Haiku and Sonnet, cardigans knit sideways. I made a version of Haiku for my granddaughter and now I'm making Sonnet for myself. It's an easy knit and I love the yarn I chose. The LYS near my sister's home is closing for good (this is very sad because my sister loves the shop and I like to stop there as well whenever I visit her) and everything is marked down. The friendly, helpful owner figured out how much yarn I would need (I'm substituting for the Knitty recommended yarn) and I left happily with the makings of my Sonnet sweater. The yarn is Rosina King Kelly, a blend of cotton and acrylic in color 101. I've searched online for the name of the colorway, but Yarndex and Yarnmarket refer to it only by number. It's a wonderful combination of hot pink blending to purple. I don't think my photo does it justice.