Knitting again...

16 stitches and 10 rows. I've managed to do more than 1 repeat tonight and I still have use of my hands. That's an improvement! The Nutkin socks...those will not be mine. I can barely get them on my foot and I'm afraid I'll rip them either trying to take the socks off or putting them on. I could add in another pattern repeat but then I think it would be too loose. I made Tina try them on today and it fits her a little better so they'll be hers when I'm done.

Projects, projects, and a time trial

I am always in awe of the Tour de France riders. I also admit to waking up on a Saturday morning to sit and watch the time trials. The tour ends tomorrow and the time trial is one to catch. As for my TdF knit along project, well...I'm still on the third ball. I still don't know yet if I'm going to end up with a nightie or a tank top. We'll see. I was at Springwater's closing sale yesterday and while I was looking at the needles and crochet hook, it suddenly came to me. The issue keeping me from finishing last year's TdF KAL project is the disappearance my crochet hook. I don't know why I hadn't thought to just go buy another one! Duh!

Well, as I sit here and watch the time trial, I have been working on a couple of things besides laundry and packing.


I'm using the Lisa Souza Sock! in Mars Quake. I bought this at Stitches East 2006. The pattern is called Nutkin. I had finished my last sock and in need of a travelling project. It's a top down sock and you actually create a small cuff at the top.

Also, I finally finished:





Crystal Burst Bracelet. This was the class I took with Laura McCabe at Bead&Button. Pretty eh?

Next week, I'll have pictures of my finished ball gown. I finished it last night at Bead Obsessions. I didn't have my camera with me so I'm going back today to take pictures. Ball gown, you ask? It's a Christmas ornament ball gown. However, every year, Patricia adds to the class calendar "Ball Gown" class and I always think it's a class to make an evening gown. So, I've made an evening gown...for a ball ornament. I'll have my camera this week, but I don't plan on bringing my usual laptop. I'll have the work laptop. I don't feel like lugging around 2.

Insanity is...

It's been in the high 90s here in the DC area with a lot of humidity. I don't deal well in this kinda of weather. It makes me want to pack up and move north. So I thought it'd be nice to wear more skirts and show off the legs. So I started knitting Teva Durham's Slip Stitch Intarsia Kilt...in a nice bulky wool. I'm still trying to sort out the logic of bulky wool skirt in hot/humid weather. Here's a little beginning:


Now, if I actually lift this up so that you can see the bits of color I'm working with...


Um...yeah. I'm just pulling the yarn to knit with. I gave up on trying to untangle that.

Owee

In a fit of something, I started in my the Great American Aran Afghan. Quite a few of us came across the cashmere version of it at the 2007 MD Sheep and Wool festival at the Hunt Valley Cashmere booth. You sign up for the "club" and every 2 months, they send you 2 50gr skeins of cashmere in your choice of 4, 8, or 12 ply. They've been coming to me for over a year now and I had never started. But I felt like starting it and so I did. I had to drop down to size 5 needles cuz size 7 was producing a square with a 15 inch side. I haven't been that far off gauge in a while. The other thing I have definitely confirmed for myself is that cashmere is HARD on the hands. Yeah, it feels great but working with it, OW! I'm a third done with the first square but omg my left wrist HURTS!

So instead, Amber and I played with duct tape today. She had been on a quest to make model feet and offered to help me make my duct tape body double if I helped with her fake feet. I didn't realize I had bought black duct tape at Home Depot until I opened it up and as I was doing it, I felt like a dominatrix. Amber will have pictures but think shiny black vinyl type get up. Once I tape up the back, I'll probably even out the neck, arms, and hips and go look for that new insulation foam stuff that you can pump into an area and it expands and fills. If that's too expensive, I'll just stuff it with newspapers. So ow, my hands hurt.

Btw, in watching the Tour de France, I am being tortured by the Bacardi mojito commercial. It is driving me nuts cuz I see it at EVERY FREAKIN' COMMERCIAL and yet my hips start twitching. Oy vey.

Slow and steady...

wins the race. Well, not the Tour de France, unless you were going for the Lantern Rouge award and make it in within the time limit. Me, I am knitting, spinning, and beading at a slow but steady pace. Another puff here, another knitted row there, and maybe a few more beads. I've spun another few puffs of the Autumn Harvest fiber. That is definitely not going to be made into a shrug in time for my friend's wedding in 3 weeks. I hope to have a beaded ball gown (Christmas ornament) done by next Friday since it's due at Bead Obsessions by August 1st. I also want to finish the Crystal Burst Bracelet. I have only 1 half of a 14mm crystal to embellish. Almost done. Almost done. And as for the silk nightie...it might end up being a black silk tank top. See, I only have 5 balls of it. I'm into my third ball and I think I've still got a few inches until the waist shaping. hmm... So I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do.

Some progress

I knit a little, I rest a lot. The silk nightie (TdF KAL) project is coming along. I've finished my 5 inches of lace at the hem and am just over 2 inches into the stockinette body. I need another 8 inches or so to start the waist shaping. In the real TdF, we have entered the mountains. Whoo hoo! Now you see the crazies come out in the mountains and where the fun begins on the road.

Spinning therapy

I liken the beads to be like crack. It can get to be an expensive habit when you buy it in the quarter and half kilos. But it can also be a cheap fix when you run in for a few grams. A friend of mine likens the yarn and knitting to be like weed. It's a recreational drug for when you're just sitting around with friends, shooting the breeze. Spinning, I liken it to something like an opiate. It takes the pain away. Well, it takes the mental pain away. I can't keep spinning as I'd like, I can only go a little bit at a time. The gripping position in my hands makes them hurt. But I've been thinking about spinning and I needed a bit of the opiate today. I borrowed Lynn's (who needs to update her blog) Majacraft Rose. I'm test driving out the wheel since it's one I'm considering purchasing as my next/second wheel. This is a colorway called "Inferno" and comes from Copperpot Woolies over on etsy

Stray cats, finished socks, a little knitting

I first noticed the stray cats hanging out in my yard when the kittens were crawling around. It made me seriously consider trapping the strays, taking them to the vet and owning cats. But mommy is still around and I'm not getting in the way of mommy. They are so cute. But I'm not getting a cat.



Oh. Such a cutie!


I did start to knit just a little bit at at time. I finally managed to finished the Hedgerow Socks that I had started on my way to Denver.




And now back to the Tour de France. I had started the After Dark Nightie and didn't intend for it to be the TdF KAL project. Well, I didn't have a chance to swatch and I had already started this. And hey, what could be more along the lines of a French theme than a sexy black silk nightie? I'm doing a couple of rows a day and working SLOWLY.

To participate in the intermediate TdF KAL sprint, I'm going with the cycling option. I learned to ride my bike way back when but I just was not physically active and had no interest in it. I really started getting into the sport of cycling when I moved to DC and was taking cycling classes with a woman named Cynthia at the F Street Washington Sports Club. She loved her bike and the sport of cycling. One day, she brought in her dvds of one of Lance Armstrong's wins in the TdF. I want to say it was win #5. She brought in a projector and we watched the tour as we rode along. She had the class planned for certain parts of the dvd. I didn't actually get on a real bike again until a couple of years after that when some coworkers got me on a bike after work one day and I was hooked. I bought my Trek 1500 a year after and have been happily cycling along. Watching the TdF every year inspires me to get on my bike. I really need to buy an indoor trainer cuz I could really just sit here and watch them ride and ride on the bike.

July 4th and the start of the Tour de France

I need a vacation. And so the long weekend comes at a very good time. I had a slow start, didn't get out for my short run until about 11am. Wandered out at close to 4 to pick up Amber to head out to the Mall and watch the DC fireworks. I did knit a little, slowly though. I love watching the fireworks downtown. It's not quite the same as Boston cuz it gets to be SO crowded by the river. I'd only seen the Boston fireworks once growing up there. It was so crowded it wasn't fun. It's more relaxed here. Love the fireworks. Had some yummy drinks a McCormick & Schmick's. They always have yummy drinks.

And today is the start of the 2008 Tour de France. I always sit here watching the tour. It's a strange addiction. As for the Tour de France knit along, well... I had one project in mind but I decided to work (slowly) on the After Dark Nightie. I didn't think I'd be able to knit until half way through the tour but if I go slowly, I'm okay. The organizers were also okay with an injured person in the KAL. I'm riding the team car :D