I arrived home Tuesday evening and Wednesday I started baking. By the time B’s quartet concert started last night I had made three different kinds of cookies… all from scratch! Well, ok, I didn’t make the Rice Krispies or the marshmallows, but you know.
It was a wonderful concert with friends to visit with, 
music to enjoy, and treats to eat!
Next post, a FO and all my projects in process!
Shedir is almost done so the next project must be decided upon… I’m off to Miami tomorrow, will return on Tuesday night with more tales of airport knitting!!
Once upon a time there was a knitter who liked to follow trends. She knitted whatever everyone else was knitting, but about a year behind. Sari Silk was a craze so she bought some, purely for stash enhancement. And then her SP9 gave her more. (Thanks Carol!) Hmmm… thought the knitter, now we might have enough to do something. This was, of course, BR (before Ravelry) so ideas weren’t easy to come by. Google searches, Flickr gazing, it brought up ideas, but not “the right thing.” And then, one day, it all became clear. Look to the trends! What did she discover, but Clapotis! There were even examples on Flickr and elsewhere. They looked great. But did she have enough yarn? She would do math and figure it all out, after all, our heroine is not only a knitter, she’s a math teacher. She crunched the numbers and figured out how much of the yarn she should use on the increases, how much on the straight part, and how much on the decreases. Work continued at lightning speed and then, near the end, trepidation set in. It was little, too wide and not long enough. Not to mention that clearly the calculating wasn’t quite right because the yarn was running out… She finished, but was disillusioned. It was folded away in a cabinet in hopes of divine intervention.
Fast forward to this week. I (I’m tired of writing in the third person) figured I would pull it out and see what my options were. I thought of frogging the whole thing, but the few stitches I had dropped made me think that was going to be more frustrating than fruitful. So I proceeded to drop all the stitches in hopes that that would provide enough growth to make something usable. Two episodes of Good Eats and one of Dirty Jobs later, I had all the stitches dropped and I laid out my 18″ x 28″ Clapotis. Hmmm, large place-mat? Short table runner? Artful couch throw? I decided to try stretching, can’t hurt right? So I soaked the whole thing then laid it out stretching as much as I could lengthwise. Some improvement, I got it to about 34″.
It’s been drying, so today I thought I would see what I could make of it. I wrapped it around my shoulders, not good, just not long enough to stay put. But then I realized, it could be a shrug. Now I know I have been saying all along that people with my figure should not wear shrugs (nor low rise pants, but that’s a whole other post) but I think this might work. I’m thinking snaps or buttons on the corners just enough to hold it on. I’ll take it to SLK tonight (if B lines up Bunny care) and see what the others think. And hopefully get a modeled shot!
In other knitting news, I have been kind of stalled on Bunny’s top-down raglan because I really wanted to do a tubular bind-off and was having trouble with all the directions I found. I was catching up on Grumperina’s posts and found this one where she refers to a tubular bind off in a book. I quickly hit the link for the book thinking about the Barnes and Noble gift card in my purse only to have it be this. So what you say? But you see, I got this book for my birthday from none other than the Unk of Funk. (B’s uncle and perhaps the only family member who reads this blog!!) Onward ho! I will go back to the raglan with renewed vigor!
And if I finish it, I can certainly start something new… and the Shedir is almost done… got to start looking at last year’s hot projects!!
I had a quick two day trip to Chicago at the end of the week to present at a conference. I have found that now that I knit all the time, being stuck in an airport isn’t bad! Hours in both Dulles and O’Hare went quickly with knitting to do and knitting podcasts to listen to! A few days before I left I decided I should knit something for my cousin who was trekking out to the suburbs to see me. I started on a Mason-Dixon ballband, and when that was done so fast I started on the inverse. Of course the second wasn’t done when I saw her and I ended up buying her dinner so I didn’t give them away. The good news, they’re both done now and can be put away in case of an emergency gift need!
I also made more progress on both my Shedir and my Chevron Scarf. I started the Shedir shortly before the cruise. I made a mistake on one round early on, but went on. I am slowly convincing myself that I’m ok with that. Unfortunately, it looks like chemo is not in the works for the intended recipient, the progress of the cancer is too great… I will keep knitting, and hoping!
When I bought just a little Socks that Rock at Maryland Sheep and Wool I had in mind that I would make a Chevron Scarf. 
I cast on during the cruise and am loving the process. So far this scarf has been knit on a cruise ship and an airplane at Tae Kwon Do and Ikea. I love how it’s looking using Seastone and Lemongrass. I think this will be my “on the go” knitting for the summer.
I have discovered that Sunday has a really different meaning when on Monday B will go to work and Bunny will go to camp and I will stay home! Ah, summer lovin’…
One of the many things I like about cruising is the chance to knit while watching the world go by. The fact that I knit on deck, and while waiting for shows to being, means that I also get to talk about knitting. Not as many knitters on this cruise as our last one, but I did chat with one lady a number of nights in a row and by the last night she declared that she was going to start knitting again when she got home!
I finished two projects on the trip.
First, I finished my Broadripple socks! I really enjoyed the pattern and the yarn (thanks SP Gwen!). It was interesting that one of the balls changed colors part way through so the lighter purple became much lighter. The socks are more fraternal as a result, but I really like them and can’t wait for it to cool off so I can try them out.
I was quite aggravated with myself because I found out that I had forgotten to bring the pattern on the trip so I thought I wasn’t going to be able to finish. However, on our stop in Halifax I went to The Loop (more in another post on that!) and she was able to look up the pattern and let me copy down the toe decreases!! I guess these don’t officially count for Summer of Socks since I started them before summer officially started, but at the rate I knit socks there’s no way I will knit the most so I figure these count for me! Details here.
The other project I started and finished on the trip. The cute Reverse Bloom Washcloth from Week-End Knitting. I had bought the Crystal Palace Chenille right before we left to make something for Mary’s birthday. Mary has (to put it mildly) a lot of stuff so I try to only give her useful gifts! I found some wonderful hand made soap at the market in St. John’s so the gift will be wrapped and sent soon. Details here.
I seem to be on a green and purple kick lately! Next post will show the other projects I worked on on the trip.
Coming back from vacation is never easy, do you know there doesn’t seem to be anyone here waiting to make up my bed, or turn it down and put a chocolate on the pillow? Also the ever present buffet and the oh so handy kid’s club seem to be missing… Full recap of a great cruise and all the knitting and yarn shopping will commence soon, but in the mean time feast your eyes on what was waiting for me at home!
A big box full of lots of little gifts from my SP!! Almost makes it worth coming home. So I dug all the gifts out of the box and set to work opening. There was lots of ooohing and aaahing as I opened each one and when I was done…
I had this wonderful pile of stuff. I got:
Victorian Lace Today (what a beautiful book!)
A wonderful blank book with a great pink cover
A magnet, magnetic pad, and book mark (all darling)
Some lemon drops
Beautiful Yarn Place Graceful Lace in a wonderful blue and purple
Some (can you believe it) 100% cashmere lace weight from Just our Yarn. It’s beautiful with pinks, blues, purples, and some dusty greens!
Last but not least, a little something for Bunny! A kit for making a pirate scene. What better for a boy just back from a cruise? Better yet, he set right to work at it and it kept him occupied while we got the mail sorted and the air conditioning did it’s magic.
Thanks so much SP!! I know your name now, but a little googling and I haven’t located you yet. Want to give me a hint so I can compose a more personal thank you?
Now, off to do laundry, or perhaps build a buffet…
Numerical Knitting 