Living in the city, Part I

What's better than autumn in New England, with plump, friendly squirrels burrowing and hopping on thick golden carpets of fallen maple and gingko leaves?

Fall at its finest in the Boston Public Garden.

When you don't have to rake a single one of them.

As I'm walking along the pile of leaves just outside our door, I am warmed by the knowledge that each week, courtesy of our newly bloated property tax dollars, there will be that trusty street sweeper coming by to clean away all the detritus, and that our weekends of endlessly filling and stomping dry leaves into Home Depot refuse bags are over, oh so over, to be replaced by the less chore-y task of strolling to and through the Public Gardens or the Commons and enjoying the autumn leaves the way they should be enjoyed: by sight, by smell. Not by rake.

So it's been 4 months since we ditched our suburban house for digs in the city and we are loving every. single. second of it. I don't miss our old house. At all. Right now as I sit here, SOCKLESS, in a T-SHIRT, with the heat cranked up to keep the place at a constant 72 degrees (and we don't even have a choice about that! No thermostat!), I think about the couple now at our old house and imagine what they're saying to each other as they're discovering that they've just bought an oversized ice-box, and oil prices are at an all time high. They're probably not high-fiving. Because they're fingers are all swollen and it would hurt.

In the new place, there are no weeds to pull. I mean is this Shangri-La or what?! This has been the extent of my gardening so far:

Planting bulbs - amaryllis and paperwhites - in pots to be brought indoors. This year I bought somewhere around 60 paperwhite bulbs, and have planted maybe half of them so far, in soil, or rocks, or sea glass. I'm hoping they'll begin blooming near Christmas time because there is nothing quite so nice as fragrant white paperwhite blossoms to add more holiday cheer.

So, in general I haven't really talked much about our new place, except for the mantle. I love that thing. I get a couple of emails now and then from people asking how I'm liking it, and I'm fine with talking about it one on one, but with the general public...We're so happy and feel so incredibly lucky that we get to live the way we do, but do you really want to hear about it? Because maybe I'll come across as an arrogant douchebag, and apparently that would be just about the worst thing in the world for strangers to think me a douchebag. And then there's that creepy feeling of being voyeured...I should really quit thinking so much. If you haven't noticed, my writing here as been few and far between as lately I do this back and forth in my head and then censor myself into silence. Dude, WHAT is the big deal?? This is a blog is it not?

Stay tuned for more douchebaggery!

Comments [16]
Filed Under: Life

Sweaters to start, sweaters to finish, sweaters to wear

Oh it's been a long loooong time since I've had a finished sweater in my knitting portfolio. I've been trying though.

Here are 2 of the 4 skeins of heavyweight Socks That Rock yarn I bought to make the Rambling Rose Cardigan from the IK Winter 2006 issue. I think the magenta/pink cardigan in the magazine is a little jarring, a little not my style, too much cotton candy and Hawaiian Punch, like a junior varsity cheerleader threw up all over it. So I'll be taking the cardi towards more of an Edgar-Allan-Poe-ish direction: Pond Scum (pond scum!) and Haida, from the new Raven Series.

Here is a tunic sweater, knit in the round with Malabrigo worsted, that has been stalling at the underarms for several weeks now. I can't decide how to proceed next, mostly because I don't know what kind of sleeves I want...and also because I don't know what kind of new knitting technique I want to try. If any at all. Cast on more stitches for capped sleeves, and then continue knitting in the round? Divide for front and back, working separately, and then seam raglan sleeves to it? Long sleeves or short sleeves or 3/4 sleeves? Make it a vest? Steek it (eee no)? Yoke it? I just want to finish it with the least amount of thought as possible, really. Wish I had just done this from the top down.

Until I finish those up, I have a few things that will tie me over, cuz I just scored me my most favorite thing in the world: a sweater on sale at anthropologie.

Let's be honest here, it's still kind of expensive even with the mark down. anthropologie is like that, hit or miss with the styles and the prices. But let's be honest again: those 4 skeins of yarn cost more than this finished cardigan (which totally looks handknit, by the way), and Rambling Rose cardigan, assuming that it will actually turn out to my liking after spending 10,000 hours to knit it, does not have penguins for pockets now does it?

Comments [9]
Filed Under: General Knitting | Tunic Sweater | Yarn Stash

Show and Tell

I just have nothing to talk about these days. But before I forget, I have a public service announcement to make on behalf of my cousin who lives in Denver. She has a new copy of Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from IK that she'd like to swap for purple or purplish sock yarn; no preference as to brand. Surely these must be one or two knitters out there who do not yet own this book. Surely. And I'm sure if you wanted to swap something else she'd be open to that as well.

So if you're interested, just zap me a comment.

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Now I'm going to show photos that I took today of random stuff around the house, because really I cannot think of a single thing to talk about. Not that there hasn't been much to talk about, but the manner in which those things would be talked about would be very low-quality, considering how my brain has lost all of its writing/blogging mojo. These days I've been sitting around alternately between Why Do I Blog? and Do You Really Care? so much that my CPU crashes and it takes a lot of coaxing to restart. So annoying, all this teen-angst stuff. So let's not talk about it anymore.

Let's talk about what's on the needles. Lots of random stuff.

There are thick socks, one plain, one ribbed, in Silk Garden Lite, hopefully to be finished in time for xmas. There is a brown lump which is the start of Forecast. I think I might be allergic to the wool I'm using, and if it is an allergy it's a weird one. Everytime I put down the knitting, random parts of my body start to itch like crazy. The hairline, behind the ear, soles of the feet, back of the knees, shoulder blades, that meaty area of the thumb. The yarn is Peruvian wool that I got years ago from elann.com. I'm still performing tests to see if this really is an allergy or if it's all in my head.

It's 11 am and I'm still in my Yummy Sushi Pajamas. In case you're wondering, it is1:45 pm now and I've switched out of the top, put on some eye shadow and lip gloss, but am still wearing the pj pants. And they're called Yummy Sushi Pajamas because that's what Buffy called them in a season 5 episode of Buffy the VampireSlayer several years back. She wore these exact pj's which I loved so much that Duck secretly tracked them down and I received them for Christmas. It was the best gift EVER.

This is Underdog. He's about 30 years old, and belonged to Duck. He's a superhero, piggy bank and bouncer all rolled into one. Fun AND functional! These days he's mostly a bouncer, or a doorstop for the bathroom where the litterbox is. We had an incident several months back when we were out of the house all day, the heavy door closed by itself and Veebs waited as long as he could before he made a huge, steaming pile of an accident in the corner of the kitchen. It is still unclear who was unhappier about the situation, me or the cat. So now we use Underdog to make sure that doesn't happen again.

My first orchids. My mom used to keep dozens of them and even though she has the greenest of all thumbs, she never had much luck with orchids. How she would try. So I approach them with a little trepidation. But now with a warmer place (unlike our old house) that also gets a decent amount of light (unlike our old house), I'm hoping I will kill these later rather than sooner.

And now, my MANTLE!

The mantle is an original detail in the house (over a hundred years old!) and is made of marble. We will probably not use the fireplace because if the entire street were to burn the guilt would never leave me, but how I love the mantle! How I love to put stuff on it! In front of it! Next to it! This weekend we went to the garden center and I went a little crazy, and so did Duck because he so did not want to be there. I got a pretty garland of fake little berries, paperwhite bulbs to force, amaryllis bulbs to force, poinsettas and those orchids. The ferns I bought in May when we were selling the house. I'm surprised they're still alive. It could be because for once our condo is always at a nice and toasty 72 F, which is nearly a whole 20 degrees more than what we kept our thermostat at our old house. I love having the heat included in our condo fee. I love having heat.

THE END.

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Don't forget to let me know if you'd like to swap for the Favorite Socks book! Til next time...

Comments [17]
Filed Under: House

Topsy Turvy Socks

Pattern: Entrelac Socks by Eunny Jang, from Interweave Knits Spring 2007
Yarn: 1 skein Koigu in brilliant blue (lost the band so don't have the exact info) & half skein Sundara Yarn in Bartlett Pear  

These are brilliant. Entrelac in the round is so easy to do, and the colors! The colors! I am so in love with both these colors, especially together. If I had another skein of the Koigu I would have had the brilliant blue as the main color - I really love how that sock turned out - but I thought I'd play it safe do one in the blue and one in the pear. The results are very jolly and court jestery.

I kept these at average leg length, and also didn't go for the tassles. Although maybe I should have attached little bells.

After knitting the first sock (Bartlett Pear main color) in size 1 dpn's, I switched to 0's because the 1's were running kind of big. The 0's run a little small, but I'd rather them snug than otherwise. When I make these again I'll probably go back to size 1 needles, but knit 5-stitch blocks instead of 6, giving a total of 60 sts in the round. That's a good number for me.

Update: To answer some people's questions about whether the bumps on the inside of the sock are uncomfortable during wear, the answer is no! Not for me anyway. The bumps are soft, and in fact I really like the texture and the way the bumps squish against the skin.

Make sure you follow Eunny's suggestion of weaving the old color as you're picking up stitches in the new color at the beginning of every new round of blocks. (That barely made sense. Read her instructions.) I would imagine having to cut and to weave in yarn at every round would be a pain, and those bumps would not be comfortable to wear.

OK so now I am on a mission to redecorate our bedroom in these colors. I've been keeping an eye out for bedding, preferrably duvet covers, in exactly that shade of blue but haven't had any luck so far. Once I have that as the anchor, I'll really begin decorating in earnest.

Love these socks!

Comments [37]
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Socks | Entrelac

Finally got that pony I've been asking for

I was going to show you the entrelac socks I just finished, but then something MUCH MORE EXCITING arrived at the doorstep this morning.

It's the dawn of a new era. Hello! to the very first Mac I have ever owned.

I have never seen prettier styrofoam in all my life.

(but Made by People With Small Delicate Fingers in China)

What a pretty pony you are.

Pretty is pretty much the only reason why I have this. That, and because it can run Windows, which is SO COOL. I mean, not Windows. Windows isn't what I'd call cool, at all, but it's what all the apps I use for my job requires, so I've never had a choice. But now I do, and I choose Mac, this pretty pony of a Mac that's been totally jacked up to be a real workhorse.

Right now I'm installing some stuff and I feel the same way I did when I was learning how to drive stick shift. You know how to work it, but everything's just a little off. It's a little terrifying.

Comments [17]
Filed Under: Life

He'll be out there until the bowl is empty

Halloween was sort of a bust on our street. A lion, a fireman, a ladybug, a black cat and a chocolate lab came by and that was it. The chocolate lab was a real one and boy did he have the droopy-eyed, you-know-you-want-to-give-me-a-piece-of-that-chocolate look down pat. His owner could not get him to resume pace. And actually the cat cannot be counted as a visit because she took one look at Duck and refused to cross the threshold, so I had to hand the candy over to her while her father picked her up and carried her across the street. So disappointing.

Comments [9]
Filed Under: Life

Happy Halloween

I am in severe baseball withdrawal. This was the first year that I watched or listened to just about every single Red Sox game. Usually I don't start following until towards the end of the season. But ah I have discovered what a perfect pairing baseball and say, knitting makes. Neither requires your undivided attention, but done together you get to use all sides of your brain at once and still in a very non-taxing sort of way. I love listening to baseball and cooking, working, drinking, whatever. Last night after dinner I just didn't know what to do with myself. During Game 4 of the World Series I was probably the only Red Sox fan cheering for the other team, just so they could play at least another game. Just another game!

Game 6 would have been today, on Halloween, and with the weather as warm as it is, AH it would have been the perfect evening!

Woot! Big Papi at the Rolling Rally yesterday. Taken by Duck. I was too short to see anything.

While at the barber's the other day, Duck overheard that the way candy is doled out to trick-or-treaters in a Bostonian neighborhood where most people live in multi-family units is to just park yourself out on the front stoops and hand candy out from there. That sounds frightening to me, deliberately placing yourself in a position where you have to interact with strange little children or worse, teenagers who are clearly too old to trick-or-treat...But Duck seems up for it, especially when it means he gets to wear his Venetian Man-Bird mask. He's worn it, with a monk's robe, to parties past and while the beak kind of prevented him from enjoying the party drinks, it never failed to freak people out.

I wonder how little children will take it.

Happy Halloween!

Comments [6]
Filed Under: Life

Handknits are officially in vogue!

Have you seen this?

Twinkle's Striped Tunic, as it is called in Vogue Knitting's 2005 Holiday issue, is now the Butter Hill Funnelneck, part of anthropologie's fall 2007 sweater collection. Fascinating! So cool that as knitters we were able to be two whole years ahead of what was going to be fashionable in the stores! I only wish I had actually made this sweater like I meant to when I first saw this.

They're advertising it as an actual handknit, selling for $228.00. I might be crazy, but that price does not seem too unreasonable to me...

I mean I tried selling a pair of Red Socks once for more than that.

Here was an email I received recently from a Sox fan:

Here was my reply:

And then here was his reply:

I think I pissed him off. Oh well, art isn't cheap!

(GO SOX!)

Comments [12]
Filed Under: Life

My own sheep and wool festival

While everyone and their cats were at Rhinebeck this past weekend, I was at WEBS. I had a strict game plan, I had a strict list, I had a strict timeline to keep the store experience to under 15 minutes. Any longer than that and my system starts to shut down. Still, from the second I stepped inside my mouth got real dry, my brain couldn't distinguish between sport and aran weight, acrylic from wool, I couldn't add or multiply, I couldn't read, I couldn't decide, I became color-blind. It was horrible.

I can't imagine what a few minutes at Rhinebeck would have done to my health. I don't want to know. I want to stay sane for a little while longer.

So this is what I managed to crawl away with from WEBS.

Noro Garden Silk I mean Silk Garden Lite, enough for 3 pairs of thicky socks. I wasn't going to do Christmas knitting this year but changed my mind.

Malabrigo worsted in Azul Profundo. My first Malabrigo! I'm so into blue, I'm so into this blue. They only had 4 skeins so I'm not sure if I can squeeze a simple sweater out of this, but I'm gonna try.

Remember my decree at the beginning of the year that I would not buy any more yarn for the rest of the year? I had included sock yarn in that decree, which was pretty stupid and is anyone surprised that I lasted for about a second. But aside from sock yarn, I pretty much adhered to the rules of the game: no new yarns purchased at all - until just this weekend.

Not too bad!

Comments [12]
Filed Under: Yarn Stash