Looking ahead to more shellfish

Everyone, say goodbye to Rose of England. I've finally decided I could no longer work with cotton thread. And even though the lace looks super complicated on paper, it has been rather a snooze to knit, what with all the repeats that just get more endless as the circumference gets bigger. I might try again with some lace-weight cashmere/silk I have...some day. Some day.

Guess what? It's hot. It's global warming. But just found out that we have not one, but TWO more AC units that came with the house (or the that previous owners just left) that are sitting in the attic. Duck dragged it down all by himself this morning as I lay drooling in bed. Like I had gotten enough sleep and wanted to get up but just could not do it. There were greater powers at work. *The heat lulls my eyelids shut every time I open them and that's when I'd have about 3 to 5 minutes worth of crazy wacky heat-induced dreams that eventually wake me up.

Repeat from * 10 times.

The AC unit died after running for a few minutes. We're too hot to retrieve the second unit from the attic.

Things are looking up though! First, it is going to cool down considerably tomorrow, so we don't need no stinkin' AC, take that. 

Second, we're going to spend the pleasant weekend in Martha's Vineyard, wooooooooo! Woo! Woo woo.

Have you heard about Netflix's Roadshow? That's the impetus for us going - watching Jaws at the beach! Where they filmed it! - and going biking, which we haven't done nearly as much as we should have so far this summer.

Duck has never been to MV. I went once with a friend when I first moved to Boston. We rented bikes, and at one point he skidded off the road and had his face nearly run over by the car behind him. A nice, rich man across the street witnessed the near tragedy and invited us into his beach house so Rob could clean his scrapes.

While he did that, from the living room I took in the disgustingly gorgeous panoramic views of the ocean, and then took off my clothes. I only had a few minutes to seduce the nice, rich man well enough to get at least an invitation to the clambake I was sure he was going to have that night. Because if I lived in Martha's Vineyard and had a house like that, you know I'd be having a motherfucking clambake every single day.

I'd do just about anything for a clambake. A REAL clambake, the one where you dig a ditch in the sand and cook with ocean water and seaweed and all that magic.

But alas. It didn't happen that day.

Maybe I'll have better luck this weekend. A waterfront Sugar Daddy for Duck and me sure would be nice.

Comments [6]
Filed Under: Lace | Rose of England | Life

I played hooky today

Here is the progress so far with Rose of England. Riveting, isn't it? I'm only this far into the pattern:

Mired in row after row of p3tog's and m3's, with row after row of ever-increasing stitches. Making the rose petals will break up the monotony, but after that, more stitch pattern repeats for a loooong time.

That dropped stitch I made last week - did a bad job picking it up. The mangled parts are noticeable even to the untrained eye. OH WELL. Just can't seem to garner enough perfectionism to care. Too lazy.

I was almost too lazy to make this consecutive-day post. I just got back from playing hooky all day long. (For the record, I do work. But not very hard.) First I went to the library in the North End and picked up Knitting Vintage Socks. Then I hopped over to Filene's Basement - I liked to call it Feline's Basement - to buy a replacement RedSox cap. I was going to get the green cap with the clover stitched on the back to commemorate me being newly Irish and all, but damn it was really really green. The Asians don't pull off green so well.

After Filene's, I made a quick stop at Windsor Buttons to kill some time and not buy any yarn, then rounded the corner to meet my friend Kitty (who had just quit her job and has 2 weeks before her new job starts) at the theatre for a matinee. And it wasn't even noon yet! The last time I saw a movie that early was...never! Yes, we were two grown women out to see Cars before the sun was high.

After the movies we had sushi at the Corner Mall Food Court in Downtown Xing. A little sushi stand across from Dunkin and Sbarro in a ghetto mall seems a horrible, illogical place to have raw fish, but really the fish is no joke: They have incredible, fresh sushi.

After lunch we walked the entire (nearly) length of Boston, from Downtown to Fenway, but not before stopping once for lemon slush at the corner of the Public Gardens. It was hot out there.

It was at this time that we were approached by some intern working for the Metro morning commuter paper. She was working on the "What Do You Think?" opinion section and wanted to ask us the question of the day. It went something like, What is your opinion on Vermont's campaign financing law? a topic that I am very, very, extremely not opinionated about. I pulled something out of the air (it doesn't matter since they distill what you say into like, 10 words or less), got my picture taken, and will be in tomorrow's paper. Ha!

But please don't look for me, fellow Bostonians. It was hot and windy and my hair was plastered all over my face and my posture was all rickity; I think I was standing pigeon-toed with my butt sticking out.

We ducked into a few stores along Newbury before catching a breather at a bar near Fenway, and had a beer. By this time it was 6pm, we parted ways, I went home and made myself a mojito.

Quite a productive day, I'd say.

It sure is good to be self-employed, especially in the middle of summer :)

Comments [8]
Filed Under: Lace | Life

Finished Sock, and Upcoming...

Aw yeah I finally have a finished matching pair of socks.

Jaywalker socks. The stripes don't match.
Yarn: Regia Crazy Color 6ply
Needles: US3

I knit these toe-up using short row toes and heels, 13 stitches each on 4 needles. The first sock I did the usual wrapped stitches method; the second sock I used the Sherman Heel method, which was so much easier to execute and looked much neater. On the first sock I bound off normally but loosely, however it was still a little tight. So on the second sock I tried the knit two, purl two bind-off as described in Vogue Knitting. Is this a tubular bind-off? It was definitely much stretchier but I'm not sure I like how it looks.

These socks have been perfect for the chilly weather we've been having lately. But from now on, any socks I make will be ankle socks. Completing 6 inches of the leg even on big fat size 3 needles still felt like an eternity, I tell you.

***

Last year, my knitting raison d'etre was all about finished sweaters. As many sweaters as humanly possible in the least amount of time. I was going at a rate of one completed sweater per month, and accessories like scarves, hats, socks were deemed an inefficient use of knitting time.

And now, this year, after finishing Cabled Toad, not only have I not even wanted to complete another sweater, I have knit five whole socks (only one matching pair, see above), two half socks, and am about to dive headfirst into the geriatric world DOILIES, TABLE RUNNERS and TEA CLOTHS!

For chrissakes what's going on?!

Enter Thistle, Daffodil, and Rose.

Modern Lace Knitting is what's going on. While at a fellow knitter's house for dinner this weekend, our hostess brought out these knitting books for me to leaf through. Wow. WOooooOOoooow. The lace is so unbelievable that it doesn't even look like knitting anymore. It looks like...a station wagon. A grizzly bear. A sunset! Might as well, it's so ridiculous.

She let me take the Second Book home and I have been carrying it from room to room like a teddy bear, never far from my side, leafing through it more than occasionally while I try to decide which I would like to try.

And I don't even like table runners or doilies! But that's not the point anymore. It's about making works of art, which these lace pieces definitely definitely are. I accept the challenge!

What kind of yarn should I use (and which pattern?)? I don't want to turn any of these into shawls. I'll never wear them, and draped decoratively on a table is better than being hidden away in a closet. But I don't want to use cotton thread. I know I won't enjoy working with it, even if it is more appropriate as a table cloth, etc. Would a silk/wool lace blend work? All silk? Hmmmmmmm.

Comments [9]
Filed Under: Lace | Socks