In absentia

Oooh, it stinks when the rest of one's life gets in the way of knitting. Ah, but it does.

Two weeks ago, my company (a dance company I executive direct) had its run of performances at a downtown theater. With that came events, dinners, shows, generally long hours, etc. Not much knitting. The shows went really well, though, and we were incredibly happy.

I have been doodling around with some Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky Hand Dye in superbrightorange. (I am very into orange at the moment, dunno why.) I'm making a skinny (for bulky yarn) scarf with a cable down the middle. In the time since my last posting I have also made the Cottage Garden (correct name?) scarf from Scarf Style and a very simple scarf with some Point 5 in a ridge-y kind of pattern. The Scarf Style scarf was made with some Ironstone Mohair in a pretty blue and green colorway. It's been in my stash for eons, since way back when I used to help out in a yarn shop and was paid in, um, yarn! (That was uber-great, frankly! I'd go back to those days but Mister Man might object 'cause yarn don't pay the mortgage, my friend.)

I just ordered some Shine from Knit Picks to make a few shrugs for my upcoming (and much needed/anticipated) vacation. Hope it gets here and hope I have enough time to make them before the ship sets sail.

I'm contemplating a trip to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. (My co-worker thought I said Sheep and Bull Festival and was completely weirded out.) My 7-year-old niece said she likes to knit, so I thought it might be fun if her aunt and uncle swoop in from Chicago to take her to the Festival. Dunno. Would I have liked that at 7? Probably not, but it's worth a shot. (I'm not even sure she does knit, but she said she did on the phone. That, of course, prompted the assemblage of a goodie box filled with fun yarns--some hand-dyed with Kool-Aid--and other knitting-related treats which has yet to be mailed but sits ready nonetheless.)

Tah Dah!

Inertia and the Art of Choosing a Car

Basically we are lazy. We spent a grand total of four hours car shopping. We first went to a Volvo dealer and were hopelessly confused. They had only six cars in the showroom and 90% of the ones in the lot did not have stickers. We didn't know what to do. So, my husband and I looked at each other and decided to go to the VW dealer where we've gotten our last two cars. We bought a 2005 1/2 Jetta. It's a "program car" so technically it is used--with 1100 miles on it. It's loaded: leather, sun roof, 6-disc in-dash changer, heated seats, rear window sun shade (!!!), etc. And the big bonus feature: memory settings on the seats. Since I'm 5'2" and my husband is 6'5", the convenience of that cannot be underestimated.

So, during the Olympics I actually got a lot of knitting done. I finished the second half of the curlicue Scarf from Scarf Style, made the alpaca shawl (my official Olympic entry) and the first half of Bobblicious. Not a bad tally, I must say.

I'm sad that the actual Olympics are over. I am really hoping that my husband and I will be able to attend the 2010 Vancouver games. Vancouver is one of our favorite cities and I have always had a passion for the winter games. (I am the least sporty person on the planet, but I love the Olympics.)

Olympic Success

Although there were times I doubted myself, I was able to complete my Olympic project--an alpaca lace shawl--during the women's free skate. That's the good part. The bad part is that I'm not sure that I like it...Fortunately, the Elann alpaca that I used is super reasonable. And, it was about the thrill of the pursuit. I did spend 5 hours last Saturday trying to fix the problem described in the previous post. Ugh.

Don't know how much knitting I'll get in today. I am going to be guest lecturing for a college class on Producing Live Theater. Then, we may be off to do some car shopping. I've been a VW driver practically my whole life. There was a behemoth station wagon thrown in there at one point; my parents bought it when I was in 5th grade, and gave it to me when I moved out of the house 10+ years later. Fortunately for me, a tree fell on it and it wasn't mine for very much longer. (Although it was still drivable--that's how big it was!) We are considering (gasp!) other types of cars. We're checking out Volvos and I want to drive a Prius. (I'm worried that the rear window is too tiny and I will feel claustrophobic in it.) There is a good chance we'll end up with a Jetta or Passat, though. Frankly, we're creatures of habit and we just don't drive all that much. In the four years we've had the current Jetta, I/we have only put 21,000 miles on it.

I think I'm going to start Bobblicious from Knitty.com next. I have two types of yarn for it: possibly the last 14 skeins of Classic Elite's Waterspun Weekend on the planet that I bought on eBay this week and Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick n' Quick. The TnQ kinda gives me the ooks because I'm just not an acrylic girl. I'm a bit worried about pilling, etc. But, that's what the recipe called for, so I bought it. Don't love the Waterspun's color--Henna--but it was all I could get.

Gotta go influence young minds...

The Halfway Point (or The Road to the Podium*)

The Olympics are halfway over and I am about halfway through the yarn required for my project. Pretty good, right? Well, last night, after a loooooong day that was part of a looooooooooong week at work, I started knitting and maybe wasn't enough attention and, as Bob Costas would say, disaster struck. I have frogged and re-knit three rows over and over and still can't get to the root of the problem. I am hoping that with a night's sleep and fresh eyes and a Venti Starbucks this morning that I will be able to figure out the problem and get going again. Ugh. I was getting a little overconfident, frankly, and had been congratulating myself on how it had been going to this point. Lindsey Jacobellis and I have learned our lessons, I think.

On another subject, there used to be another post in this blog. It was there, I swear. But it disappeared when I posted the previous entry. I don't know why. Suffice it to say that it was the best, wittiest, most clever post that will ever appear here and now it is gone into the ether forever. (Okay, maybe not, but since it no longer exists, who will ever know?)

*An observation from THE GAMES: "Podium" is now a verb. I have noted that the athletes (and some commentators) have begun to use podium, previously used as a noun, as a verb. Or maybe it is just the Halfpipe Snowboarders. Example: "The Flying Tomato really laid it down tonight. There was a question after his first run if he would even be able to make it into the finals. Not only did he get there but he was able to podium with the gold for the US."

Let the games begin!

I have loved the Olympics since I was a child. I, who do not watch sports at any other time, will watch any and all Olympic competitions. This year I am celebrating the Olympic Spirit in my lounge surrounded by yarn and Hershey's new chocolate-covered peanut butter cookies (YUM!!). I lit my own personal flaming cauldron (okay, it was a palm wax candle) to set the mood. If Bob Costas were to do an in-depth profile of my personal knitting experience, the story would currently be one of disappointment and false starts: I have started and frogged my Knitting Olympics project three times already! It is my fault; I did not read through the pattern and it is one that I must pay attention to which is difficult when I want to pay attention to my t.v. That challenge, combined with some newly-developed back spasms, is going to make my quest for the gold difficult. It's only day one of competition so I have not yet given up.

I did finish a fun spiral scarf (see Scarf Style, page 103) in Alchemy Synchronicity today. It is fun, fun, fun and only took a couple of days. The yarn is a bit pricey for the end result and I'm certain I can find something equally lovely that will be a little less expensive for the next one. I'm thinking about making it in a thicker yarn so the resulting piece will have a completely different look and feel.

For those of you sharing the (Knitting) Olympic dream, don't stop trying until the flame is extinguished.

New York Wrap-Up

If only work could always be this much fun! It was a fantastic trip: great company, good food, a handful of new (to me, at least) knitting discoveries, AND a worthwhile business trip. (Throw in an 18-year college reunion and that's a jam-packed five-days!)

I arrived in NYC on Thursday afternoon and my friend, S.A., flew up from Alabama a few hours later. Our first trip: a fat cable scarf class at Suss. (I'd been to Suss's store in Beverly Hills a few years back, have her books, and, oddly enough, our husbands were in the same program in grad school.) The NY store is lovely, by far the largest knitting store I've been to in Manhattan. The two staffers there could not have been nicer. I was "outed" pretty quickly--I know how to cable and I was just taking the class to hang out with NY knitters. Good wine, tasty artichoke spread, and some really nice, interesting regulars made it a fantastic evening. And S.A. can now cable! The store was SO nice that it made me want to move back to NYC just to be able to hang out there! (I don't have a knitting haunt here in Chicago, but that may be changing...) Thanks to Robert from the class for recommending Lovely Day, an itty-bitty restaurant on Mott (I think), just a couple of blocks away. It was the perfect place to end the day.

Next stop was Habu Textiles. Habu is really a wholesale showroom that also offers some of their wares for retail sale. Interesting. We purchased yardage of what is essentially I-cord into which they had stuffed balls of roving to make a skinny, scarf-like accessory. I need to stuff mine and will post pics if I ever get my act together in that regard. In one of the doorways, they had hundreds of little felted balls strung on monofilament like a curtain or screen--very cool. I see a weekend project in my future!

Next up, The Yarn Company on the Upper West Side. I could not believe how many people came into this shop during the 90 minutes we were there! They have a very nice selection of yarns and at least four employees who constantly offered assistance. I chatted a little bit with Jordana (she of "The Yarn Girls' Guide" fame and one of the owners) while S.A. "knit on demand" to get a gauge swatch using Point 5 on 17s. (As she says, she is a bossy girl and bossy girls don't like to be bossed around, but she did it anyway.) She finished her swatch, got a pattern written out, and finished the hat before she got back to Alabama. I understand she hasn't taken it off since she returned.

We hit The Point and Purl in one trip since they are a five-minute walk from each other. We liked the way that The Point displayed their yarns in an artful way given the limited space but it was really crowded and warm (lots of knitters in tank tops) and the situation was further complicated by a 3-year old who was treating the yarn as if it were a toy and was being less than properly supervised in our bossy-girl opinion. We had to go. I'd definitely stop by again at a time when it might be less crowded. (They have a cafe in the shop--knitting and cappuccino, yum!)

Purl was another itty-bitty (a theme in NY) shop buzzing with activity. Loved the old mosaic tile floor and the nice selection of yarns. They also carried fabulous hand-made glass scarf pins from Mud. (I bought some buttons and a scarf pin from the Mud people at Stitches Midwest in August--love their stuff.)

I was amazed at how busy and vibrant each of these stores was. It's made me really hungry to find a shop to hang out in here at home that is equally hip and energetic. (Okay, this is the Midwest so equally hip might not happen, but I should be able to get close!) I have a few possibilities and will be posting about them soon...

Knitting Tourism?

Greetings. As I launch this blog, I prepare to head to NYC for a conference. Between my work obligations, my friend, S.A., and I intend to dart madly about Manhattan and perhaps at least one outlying borough in a quest to find interesting yarn/shops/knitters/patterns/characters. We're going to take a class at Suss Designs which we are really looking forward to. (Since we live many states apart, we have only had the opportunity to knit together a few times; this should be fun.)

I used to live in Midtown back when Hell's Kitchen was still hellish and way before there was a Starbuck's at 47th and 9th. Times Square was still seamy when I lived there and, frankly, I miss that. But, I don't mind waxing nostalgic for the good old days with a latte in hand, so call me a sellout if you must. Ah, but when I lived in New York I was not yet a knitter. (I could knit--not purl, just knit--which I had learned as a kid on rainbow-colored Red Heart acrylic.) Being able to knit is not the same thing as being a knitter.

As it always is when I prepare to head out of town on business, the work that needs to get done before I go tends to expand exponentially. And, so, it is unlikely I will post again before my return. I promise to take very good notes...