The Skies Are Cloudy All Day

Yesterday the region roundabout Exit 151 was awash in heavy rain and flash flooding, with some locations receiving what is ordinarily a month's worth of rain in a few hours from a storm characterized as smaller-scale. Welcome to the Anthropocene, when formerly 100-year weather events become both more common and harder to forecast. I stayed home (because I can) and worked on my Bonfire Crescent Shawl by Annie Lupton for the Yarnia Knit Collage MAL. Apologies for the bad-light photo, the sky today remains overcast.



So far both the MC and the CC are thick-and-thin Spun Cloud which as its name suggests is light and soft. I'm not much liking knitting with it. I used the backwards-E cast on to reduce bulk and will carry the MC through the color changes without breaking it, also to reduce bulk. Theoretically it should be possible to spit-splice the MC and CCs together (except for Wildflower, of course), but I plan to splice the CC ends together instead to avoid weaving in. To be continued....

Checkmate, Nihilism

Who knew? To knit socks (or hats or otherwise to cook, clean, grow, or create things), is nothing less than a way to defeat learned helplessness and existential dread. No lack of that going around.



So, behold, I have an Invitation to the Dance singleton. It is lovely, and I hope soon to have a pair. Checkmate, nihilism. Resistance is NOT futile.

Resolution

Happy New Year! May it be filled with that 20/20 clarity... and fancy doughnuts!



It's going to be a doozy of a year, methinks. I was feeling grouchy and stressed at the close of 2019, and was looking forward to some peace and quiet for at least one day. But, the new year had scarcely dawned when a flock of urgent and/or trolling messages landed in my inbox. Argh.



So. Rather than start a first foot this year, I'm simply going to continue on last year's first foot (never finished), Invitation to the Dance by Caoua Coffee. It's a lovely pattern that deserves better attentiveness, and I look forward to reducing the number of UFOs buzzing around Area 151. Besides, I just joined the Team 2020 Sew My Wardrobe sew-along – another reason to limit and/or reduce knitting projects.

By the Light of the Super Blood Wolf Moon

Happy New Year, gentle readers, a couple weeks late! If the way January has started continues during the rest of the year, there will be much last-minute alarums and just-in-time scrambling in 2019. I sincerely hope not, I was hoping for a tranquil, prepared year. Well, onward.



Tonight there's a total lunar eclipse visible from the continental US, breathlessly dubbed a Super Blood Wolf Moon. It's the only total lunar eclipse of this year, so I'm going to stay up late, bundle up against the cold, and try to get a photo. I'll post the (possibly only blob-like) results above. (ETA: Only a little blurry, not too bad considering it was freaking cold outside and someone may have tripped over the tripod. Anyway, a beautiful copper eclipse moon.)

My first foot of the year is Invitation to the Dance by Caoua Coffee, which was the warmup pattern for Sock Madness 11 (2017). Although I enjoy her patterns for their beauty and erudition, and this one is proving similar to others, I didn't have time to knit it pre-SM and was only a cheerleader for the duration. Maybe this year will be lucky thirteen? Hm.



I'm excited that after a year away the Food in Jars Mastery Challenge 2019 will reprise the excellent 2017 experience, complete with hashtag (#fijchallenge), a presence on Facebook and on Instagram, and seasonal adjustments for participants in the Southern Hemisphere, who currently are awash in stone fruit, a heat wave, and the Australian Open. The (Northern Hemisphere) January challenge is citrus. I have a new marmalade recipe (a friend's family secret!), and I want to try candying citrus slices. In preparation I bought some crazy-expensive organic citrus because edible peel is a feature. So far I've ::cough:: eaten some excellent grapefruit and made some citrus peel vinegar cleaner. Apparently there are "18 Places You Should Be Cleaning With Vinegar" in the kitchen alone. I have a greasy oven (worse than #3) and a stinky Instant Pot sealing ring (#10) to tackle. No-longer-young-hopefully-not-yet-old fogey and neo-Luddite that I am, I don't quite get Instagram, so that's an additional January challenge for me.

Although my phone may be an impediment, and perhaps that's one more thing to remedy in 2019. Hm.

Amazing to relate, last year's last foot, Holly Jolly Cranberry Biscotti, won one of the prizes in the Sock Knitters Anonymous random prize draws for Nov/Dec 2018, a pattern from This Handmade Life. I'm thrilled. I've participated irregularly in SKA for 12 years, and this is the first time I've won a prize. Maybe it's an auspicious beginning to another lucky thirteen (even though the SKA calendar runs September-August)? Anyway, whee.

Cheerful Playfellow of Half-Blood Princes

It may be necessary to sit down for this one. I finished a pair of socks in time to meet the deadline for the SKA October/November Architecture Challenge. Go me.



This FO is Hidden Stairways by Erica Lueder, worked in Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts Socknado, colorway Lichen In My Crevices. The pattern is playful, easily memorized, and delightfully absorbing. The yarn reminds me of Shakespeare's "rude ragged nurse, sullen playfellow of princes" (the Tower of London) and stands in well for Hogwarts Castle, home of the half-blood Prince. Not to be overly gloomy or lit'ry – this is a happy pairing.



Despite all that knitting happiness or perhaps because of the giddy fumes, by some perversity I kept misreading the instructions for Sockdown and posting non-qualifying photos. Ahem. I have no wish to become the scofflaw of SKA. I hope I've got it all right now.



The pattern is modified by substituting 2x2 ribbing on the cuff, a shortie leg (minimum of 3 inches (7.62 cm)), continuing the pattern down the heel, and tabi toes. Because the staircases at Hogwarts like to change, the second sock was knit with the pattern varied by a half drop. As the Headmaster knows, a good pair of socks is a good thing – these are a much-needed replacement for my poor Clowns). Happiness in sock form.

Once Away

Once away from airport hell, I noticed I'd cast on Geology Socks incorrectly. Fixed that.



And, despite the dearth of FOs this crazy over-committed summer, I immediately signed up for a bath-related weave-along. Because, sure, I'll take one of those.

It's Good to Have Knitting During Airport Hell

So. The travel plan for this week ran smack into airport hell, complete with weather, power outages, tarmac captivity, flight cancellations, and screaming people unwisely threatening airlines staff and inevitably being questioned by police. All I can say is it's good to have knitting during airport hell, even while or perhaps especially while keeping a cautious eye on extremely agitated people.



My CO is Geology Socks by verybusymonkey, a late CO for July Sockdown, lace challenge. Alas, no Princess X for me, at least not this time.

Although I finally staggered home, my checked luggage would seem to be off having rather extensive adventures without me. I thought in this security-conscious age that was not possible. Somewhat disturbingly, after providing full information on the tags on the luggage and its exterior appearance, I was asked to describe its contents. Erm. I hope I see everything again soon. Meanwhile, just keep knitting, just keep knitting....

Some Good Stuff

It just occurred to me I neglected to mention I finished my Baltimore shawlette back in July, right before my summer went from being a bit too busy to plain crazy. Not to mention it was a positively steamy day in July when I blocked it, so I cooed over it, then put it away for cooler weather. It's cooler now, and I've been enjoying it.



The pairing of pattern and yarn was most enjoyable. The pattern, Lionberry by Narniel of Endor, has a little bit o' everything – lace and fancy texture, nicely curved crescent shape, just-right size. The tails of the shawlette fall in adorable ringlets. The yarn, Neighborhood Fiber Co. Capital Luxury Lace, colorway Del Ray, is a beautiful 80/10/10 MCN, so nice to knit. Ah, some good stuff... for a change.

Baltimore Convention Consolations

All the to-ing and fro-ing has wreaked havoc on my knitting, spinning, canning, blogging, etc but one consolation is when in Baltimore for a convention I was able to visit Neighborhood Fiber Co. It's in a converted firehouse – there are still lunettes in the ceiling where the poles for the firefighters to slide down used to be. They really, truly used to do that.



For conventioneers, the shop is easy to get to (from the Baltimore Convention Center it's a short ride on the light rail) and well-worth a visit. I splurged on a braid of absolutely lovely Cobblestone Roving (75/25 BFL/Silk) in colorway Sandtown-Winchester for my Tour de Fleece project and some other goodies. I dunno when I'll have time to start it – the Grand Départ was July 1 – but that's another matter. At least I'm ready to start.



There was a lot of sitting in large groups during this convention, ideal for working discreetly on a small project like a Lionberry crescent shawlette. Mine is knit in Neighborhood Fiber Co. Capitol Luxury Lace (80/10/10 MCN), colorway Del Rey.



When I bought the Sugar 'n Cream at the big box store I had the foresight to also buy a circular needle. While I've had decent experiences with some big box store knitting needle brands, such as Susan Bates, Clover, or Boye, alas, this no-name one turned out to be very poorly made. The suffering inflicted by the poor quality needle almost canceled out the pleasure of the lovely yarn. Note to self: don't do that again.

Some of my fellow conventioneers had good views from their hotel rooms into Camden Yards, which indeed is a most beautiful baseball stadium. I just had a view of the convention center complex. Interestingly, one of the buildings has a green roof. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the plants are very closely spaced and some appear to be three or four feet (0.9-1.2 m) tall. I don't know if this green roof has much impact on pollution or the urban heat island effect, but it was more pleasant to look at than an ordinary roof.



During free time while some people took in a baseball game and others went to the Inner Harbor, I visited Lexington Market to try crab cakes and soft-shell crab at Faidley's, which were pricey and very good. Many crab cakes are too highly seasoned to my taste, but these were just right. As for the soft-shell, I was told that the proper way to eat a soft-shell crab is fried, in a sandwich with the legs dangling out. I was veddy proper. (Faidley's also has all kinds of other seafood.)



Thanks to the conference I spent the Fourth of July traveling, then at home blissfully making up my sleep deficit. Sigh. Every year I vow: Never travel on a holiday. Then I end up doing it anyway. Ah well, at least this time there were consolations.

Event Horizon

When last I blogged I was looking forward to watching the first presidential candidate debate. Somehow since then the VP candidate debate, the second presidential candidate debate, and Rhinebeck have all flown by – this evening is the third and final presidential candidate debate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Along the way things have only gotten stranger and stranger, falling deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of cynicism and paranoia to the point where serious writers in serious publications can talk about one candidate as Demogorgon. At least I have a singleton sock to show for all the time spent away from blogging.



As before, I'm not one for liveblogging, but I'll be ready tonight with favorite beverages, nibbles, and debate bingo. And as always, see you on the other side.

Debate Socks

My plan for this evening is to watch the first presidential candidate debate – available in the U.S. and globally on broadcast and cable TV, online, and even in virtual reality – and to knit debate socks. I got yarn expressly for the occasion, BMFA Super Sparkle, colorway Stars Speckled Skein. It's red, white, and blue shot with silver sparkles, and I love it.



It's expected the debate will be both widely and closely watched in the U.S. and around the world, with TV ratings comparable to the Super Bowl, the most colossal of all U.S. sporting events, and with far more profound consequences. Stock markets around the world are down in advance of the debate, reflecting concerns about the outcome. For all that, a fizzy sports rally atmosphere would seem to prevail at the site of the debate, Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY.

I'm not going to try liveblogging the debate, but such a momentous occasion calls for at least a sock update at the close of the day, and perhaps a bit of commentary. So, gentle readers, happy viewing wherever you may be or not if you so choose, and in any case see you on the other side.

Alignment

Today is Manhattanhenge! Or, to be precise, half-sun Manhattanhenge – the day the half-disk of the setting sun aligns with the Manhattan street grid and illuminates both sides of its cross streets evenly with no shadows. With all the tall buildings, it's just like Stonehenge, sorta. Tomorrow is full-sun Manhattanhenge. The phenomena, beloved of urban photographers, are as meaningful or as random as you make it. If you miss it, not to worry -- there's another alignment on July 12 and 13, plus there's winter Manhattanhenge, which involves the rising sun (not nearly as popular as the summer setting sun for some reason) and some other cities have their own-henge phenomena.



Meanwhile, Sock Madness 9 is winding down and Summer of Socks 2015 is heating up. I suppose The Stroop Stroop Socks by Ros Clarke could be considered my crossover pattern from one to the other. Maybe those stroopwafel motifs could be construed as sun signs overlaid by the Manhattan grid. It's a rare triple-dip with SKA as well. The above photo shows progress as of Memorial Day (didn't have the time to post until now; also, how can there be hockey in late May?). The goal is to finish before the end of the month – we'll see how the stars align.

Foot Notes

Incredible to relate, during the blog drought I started and finished a pair of socks. Could the drought have been so long? Objectively it wasn't, or rather the combination of pattern, Puschkinia by Kirsten Kapur, and yarn, Fiber Optic Yarns Foot Notes Paintbox Gradient, were just so compelling that time stood still. Whatever. I'm quite pleased with the results.



The yarn was an impulse splurge at last year's MDS&W. I don't often do that, but I'm glad I indulged. For one thing, I fell in love with Foot Notes while making Camino de Santiago. (Did I ever post its FO photo? No?? Gah, lemme fix that.) The yarn is wonderful to knit, on the softer and less sproingy side, yet with excellent stitch definition.



Then there's the colors. Foot Notes Paintbox Gradients are comprised of 15 skeins of 30 yards (27 m) each. I selected the Wild Thyme colorway – it was very hard to choose, they're all so wonderful. Costly too, but ah well.



The pattern is masterfully written, as all of Kirsten's are, with helpful exposition for less experienced knitters (but not so much more experienced knitters become annoyed). In the flower section I made the CC yarn dominant over the MC yarn, and reversed that in the ticking stripe sections. I offset the ticking stripes just for fun, made an eye of partridge heel for fit, and a contrast toe to match the heel. It was a most enjoyable knit. Were I to knit the pattern again, I'd use two solids rather than a gradient to make the colorwork and stripes pop. But that's for next time.

That's Two

Now I'm catching up. Earlier this month I finally finished a Sock of Shame, Sockdolager by Adrienne Fong, the qualifying pattern for last year's Sock Madness 7. Needless to add, last year's Sock Madness didn't go very well for me – I didn't even qualify for patterns.



Sockdolager as written has a new-to-me Fleegle heel. While I enjoyed learning a new heel, it's not a good fit for my Frankenfeet – it might be good for someone with a narrow heel and wide ankle. So I knit the second sock with the usual eye of partridge heel flap and French heel and am much happier with the fit. In the photo below, the Fleegle heel is on the left, the French heel is on the right.



As mentioned previously, the yarn is vintage club yarn that looked pretty, almost dainty, in the skein. It's a little surprising how dynamic the knit fabric is. I expected the welted chevron pattern would add discipline to the skinny stripes; instead it seems to have unleashed them!



Overall, I'm pleased with these socks and also pleased to have finished them. This is a year of tying up loose ends for me, and it feels good.

Chicago Weekend

Earlier in the month I finished a Sock of Shame, but rather than take advantage of the long holiday weekend to do some catch up blogging, instead DH and I scampered off to Chicago via the Lake Shore Limited. It meant a lot of knitting time, especially when the engine broke down moments after departing NY Penn Station. Delays have an unfortunate way of becoming cumulative; our train ended up arriving five hours late. Objectively, it was no worse than a comparable airport delay, but I've noticed somehow on a train the entitled folk bitch more. All I have to say is I'm glad I had my knitting. Outbound it looked like this.



In Chicago we made our usual edible pilgrimage, searching out delicacies like Chicago-style deep dish pizza and Chicago hotdogs. In the old Swedish neighborhood, Andersonville, we were surprised to see the landmark water tower sitting in the parking lot of the Swedish American Museum, a casualty of the hard winter. (There are fundraising efforts to get it repaired and back on the roof.)



On the spur of the moment I decided to Bike the Drive with a nephew. Once a year mighty Lake Shore Drive is closed to cars and open to bicycles for its entire length, from Bryn Mawr to the Museum of Science & Industry – the opportunity seemed too good to miss. Neither of us had bikes, so we rented the Chicago version of bike share bikes, or Divvy bikes. Chicago bike share started last year and has been quite successful, yet it seemed strangely new to many participants. Everywhere we went I heard other riders exclaim, "Ooh! Divvies!" A couple of people asked if they were hard to ride. Uh, no. (Why would rental bikes be hard to ride?) It was fun.



Indeed, I was so encouraged by the experience that I participated in my first Kickstarter project, a Po Campo bike bag designed for the open-sided baskets on bike share bikes. I can see making many more trips on bike share bikes in the future. As of this writing there are bike share programs in Austin, Boston, Boulder, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Chicago, Columbus, Denver, Des Moines, Fort Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Madison, Minneapolis, Nashville, NYC, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Francisco, and Washington, DC in the U.S. and also in London, Melbourne, Montreal, Ottawa, Santiago, and Toronto. Biking is a great way to see a city.



All too soon it was time to return. DH and I boarded the train and I knit some more. I've really enjoyed knitting these modified Camino de Santiago socks by Nicki Miller. I almost finished the singleton, except for grafting the toe as I didn't bring a tapestry needle.



And wonder of wonders, this time the Lake Shore Limited arrived on time. It was a sweet end to a sweet weekend.

No Fooling

April is Tsunami Awareness Month and yesterday's 8.2 magnitude Chilean earthquake has started things off with a bang.



Today in Hawai'i, small tsunami have been reported. Hanauma Bay is closed due to expected sloshing, which could be hazardous to swimmers and shore walkers. Stay safe, everyone!

In other news, I finished my Brucie socks. I'm inordinately fond of the clever Sock Madness pattern by Amy Rapp.



The previously mentioned gauge mismatch between the first sock and the second sock continued – in the Scales section the first sock has 15 sets of scales while the second has 14 sets, and in the Great Gansey section the first sock has 9 diamonds while the second has 8½. I shrugged and knit on. I didn't even notice a couple gansey diamonds on the second sock got merged together.



Ordinarily that would bother me enough to frog back. I'm leaving the error. It's been that kind of winter. At least spring is indisputably on the way. Proof positive: the skunk cabbages are finally up. They seem more petite and less stinky than some years, which makes me wonder if this is a second flushing and the first got buried by snow. It will be interesting to see if the leaves are normal-sized when they unfurl.



Instead of starting the next Sock Madness pattern, I think I'll finish a Sock of Shame. Maybe Hanauma Bay, since it's in the news. Although it must be said, the SKA challenge this month looks tempting, too. That way danger lies.

Tensions

Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises.
-- Elizabeth Zimmermann
Despite the blog post drought, I have indeed been knitting on, and now I'm catching up.

This month I started knitting along with Sock Madness, with high hopes of doing better than last year and placing on a team. Then a trip to Washington intervened. There was plenty of time during actual travel on Amtrak to knit, not so much in between. So although my Round 1 socks, the wonderfully whimsical Brucie by Amy Rapp, made significant progress while getting there...



... and while coming back...



... the net result was I qualified for patterns, but not for competition. Ah well. I posted the requisite singleton photo and knit on. Sorry about the blinding glare from my winter pale (and hairy) leg. Notice anything else glaring about it?



Somehow the singleton photo got flipped. I'm knitting with Trekking yarn, not Gnikkert. Sigh. I thought about un-flipping it, but decided against and knit on with confidence etc.

The trip included a setback, but overall was about as positive as could be hoped, which meant I could relax a bit. I did, but there were consequences: my row gauge for Brucie 1 and Brucie 2 is different. In the Shark section, Brucie 1 has eight sets of fins and Brucie 2 has seven.



Sigh. It's been a year of making decisions, most more grave than this. I decided to match the socks in length rather than in sets of fins, and knit on with confidence etc.

Yup, I'm Up

Tonight I'm staying up late to record a midnight cast on of a currently underappreciated pattern, Llama Llama Duck by Adrienne Fong, worked in Spunky Eclectic Skinny Sock for the BBK LLD KAL and also for February Sockdown. Here's the photographic evidence.

At 11:44 p.m. EST on January 31, I'm watching David Letterman, needles are down, everything is lined up and ready to go.



My progress as of 12:56 a.m. EST on February 1. Jimmy Fallon seems duly impressed. Either that, or he's mocking emulating Rob Ford.



My sock is project #15, it says so on the screenshot.



I trust that's adequate documentation.

As long as I'm up and alonging, here's a photo of my recently completed Moulin Rouge by Kirsten Kapur, worked in Classic Elite Yarns Fresco.



I'm not feeling very chatty at this hour, but do want to mention I really enjoyed this pairing of pattern and yarn. The pico cast on was fun and the short-row shaping graceful, a nice match for the soft, slightly limp, slightly fuzzy yarn. More a bit later.

Unglued

It's been quite a week for terrible news. At some point one tends to become a bit unhinged if one remains glued to the TV and other media, so I unplugged and did other things.



Earlier in the week I was in Washington. As the twigs pictured with the Jefferson Memorial indicate, peak bloom of the Tidal Basin cherry trees was last week, but it was still nice to stroll around. At one point beavers (of all the unlikely things) were chewing down the famed trees, which is what beavers do, and somehow that translated into signs admonishing two-legged pests against damaging trees by picking flowers or climbing in them. I suppose it makes sense to someone.



Not that they have much effect. The brown sign reads, "Please do not climb or sit in this tree."



Meanwhile, for reasons that escape me, Llama Llama Duck has little twist stitch cables that are set off by purl stitches on the leg but not on the instep. Perhaps it makes sense to someone, but for me the charm of the little cable is lost on a stockinette ground. See what I mean? I followed the pattern as long as I could stand it, then gave up and fixed one cable.



No surprise, I liked the effect so much, I decided to fix all of them. It only meant dropping back 28 rounds. No biggie.



Ah, that's better!



After a lot of walking, I finally found a cherry tree that still had a good amount of flowers. Connoisseurs can tell they're past their prime, but they still give an idea of how incomparably beautiful peak bloom must be. I'd like to come back some day to see it.



However, rather than pine about what I missed, I went to Cherryblossomland, which is at peak now. Go if you can or check out cherry blossom cam, or stay tuned....