knitting in the dark

It rained so hard this morning - with lots of nearby lightning and thunder. The girl next to me in line didn’t bring an umbrella, so I shared my tiny fold-up and we laughed and swore about the whole thing. While we were waiting the Whole Foods employees came around and explained how the bag purchase was set up inside the store and what the process would be. He said something like: “Please do not ask for a plastic bag to put your bag in - that’s the whole point of these bags.” And then with the rain they automatically gave out plastic bags for the “I’m not a plastic bag.” Ridiculous. I had with me the fold-up tote that I take everywhere, so mine went in that:

I could not wait to get home and open mine up (and take a nap - I woke up at 4 to get in line!), but I had other errands to do first. I knitted while standing in line because I picked a new Tour de France knit along project the other day after completing the unfinished object that I thought would never end. And then I came home and watched Stage 10 (this morning) of the race off the DVR since I missed it live while I was standing in line. May I present the progress on my Fiesta Mittens, first started in February:

I think this was the third time I ripped the first mitten back to before the thumb. I didn’t like the thumb gusset as written in the pattern, so it took me a few tries to come up with something I liked better and to make it fit well. So the yarn in the first mitten needs a good soak and block to smooth the palm out to match the second of the pair:

All that’s left now, though, is to knit the ribbed cuffs. weave in the ends, and block the little buggers. Just what I need - mittens in July in NYC.

And in other news, I found an apartment that should work at least for the next year! So so so excited about that… I just have to pack, which I hate doing. I think that comes from moving every year while in high school (boarding school dormitories) and college and then every two years since I’ve finished my BFA. And did I mention I’m going out of town until the 27th - leaving just four days when I return until the end of the month to pack? What was I thinking? But I’m really happy about my mini-vacation; I’m visiting my parents in the Seattle area and my buddy in Portland… well, and the yarn and fabric stores in those two towns.

I had a chance to sit down and watch part of the live coverage of the Tour de France yesterday and today and thanks to that TV time I have now finished the pair of socks I had been struggling with (my tour de france knit along project). I started these about two and a half months ago; it’s so unlike me to have a sock project take that long! I did rip and restart at least twice though…

They’re baggy in the ankles and way too long in the leg and foot for me, but they should fit my father just right…

pattern: my own (braided cables - what was I thinking?)
yarn: Brown Sheep Company Wildfoote in “Jungle”
needles: my trusty INOX 2mm metal dpns
started: beginning of May?
finished: today - 11 July 2007

notes: Well, I learned a lot about cables on socks and will likely be passing on cabled projects for a while. But the real note is that this yarn is too splitty for cabling, not that many other people knit cables with tweedy yarn. I’m not a huge sock yarn snob - I prefer sock yarn with nylon content to help with the wear and tear (handknit socks are my and my father’s favorite things to wear during cooler weather), but this yarn is quite synthetic feeling (maybe it will do better after a wash?). I definitely prefer Fortissima Socka and Regia for the price range…

Now, what do I work on for the next two weeks of le tour?

In honor of the beginning of the Tour de France, my friend and I took a bike ride out to the Rockaways to play on the beach yesterday. We actually take a day-long ride almost every other week, but we can pretend it was for the tour. It was the perfect day to sit on an ocean beach; hot but breezy - the water was warm enough to play in - after the initial shock, of course - but still cold enough to keep you comfortable for a bit after getting out. I remembered to give myself a liberal coating of sunscreen so I managed to avoid all sunburning (I am REALLY fair-skinned and will burn every time if I don’t pay attention). I might do the ride again tomorrow by myself (thanks freelance schedule!) since it is supposed to be ridiculously warm again here in NYC. After riding out there (only about 14 miles) and playing on the beach all afternoon we were quite tired and rode the subway back home to Brooklyn…

So there was no progress made on my Tour de France knit along socks since the race started until this morning. This is where I began, with one complete (and completely annoying) sock of my own design for my father’s Christmas present (for 2007 - I’m very early and not very late)…

Side view:

Because I have such small feet, I am always surprised by how long I have to make his socks… last year I made his socks toe-up, which I should always plan to do in the future because there was less than 2′ of yarn left from the first skein after completing the sock - eek!

And in the background of that last shot is the start of the second sock (no Second Sock Syndrome for me, thanks…) Let’s get this pair over with so I can move on to something fun:

I’ll do a finished object post (hopefully) soon, but for now I’d like to say I am not enjoying knitting with this yarn except for maybe the intense color and reasonable price.

The Tour de France starts tomorrow so I signed up for the (surprise!) knit along! You can join up until the start time tomorrow:

I joined the polka dot jersey group for projects that are “all uphill” and I was planning on working on the cabled green socks for my father’s Christmas present, but just joining last week inspired me to work on them! I have since finished the first sock and have started the second of the pair and I am well on my way before the race even begins.

So… after I finish these I will work on other long-lingering works-in-progress; I have many. Hopefully I will be able to make some progress on the stack!

I know it was a whole two weeks ago now, so I’m not going to bother telling you that Renegade was cool; I’ll just show you my loot. It appears I’ve started hoarding fabric this year as well as yarn… I never used to do this until I started reading craft blogs! Yikes! There’s just so much inspiration out there. Anyway, I spent a reasonable (mostly affordable) amount of money at the reprodepot.com booth:

The cherries are on cotton stretch jersey - I have plans for a t-shirt quilt to take to the park and beach and I think this will make a cute accent!

And these lovely flowers are on heavier weight upholstery fabric - perhaps for the back of a pillow or to recover the cushions on my comfy chairs…

And I just couldn’t resist (slightly less affordable) new art for a wall in my new apartment (apartment yet to be found):

It’s one of a kind and very cool up close. I love the red and icy blue details:

Speaking of new apartments, you’d think that a person could find an apartment for herself somewhere in Brooklyn with a reasonable commute time into the city for $1000 or less per month, but apparently not. It’s not like I want to live in Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope or anything (well, I want to, but I know I won’t be); I’d be very happy staying in Sunset Park or moving to Greenwood Heights. And small is okay (I think I could live in about 250 square feet), but it has to be a fairly clean building and there has to be decent natural light in the apartment since I work from home quite a bit. I just can’t bring myself to move even further away from Manhattan - not only does that make the commute longer when I have to go in, but it also makes a taxi more expensive on the nights that I need to take one.