knitting in the dark

My box from The Loopy Ewe turned up a few days after I posted about my missing packages! In it was two skeins of the Regia Kaffe Fassett collection in the Landscape Storm colorway… and it is even better in person than on the screen! I’m not one to order yarn off the internets without seeing it (and mostly touching it) in person first, but I sure am glad I made an exception:

I have a few ideas for this yarn - it’ll probably end up as Rainbow Socks, but there’s a lot of catching up to do before I can start a new project.

I am just so so glad the box showed up as I have more yarn on the way as we speak…!

I think there is a mail thief in my new building, which is so depressing to me. I live in a small (only 16 small studio units) apartment building in a decent neighborhood. Since I moved in at the beginning of August I have had two packages delivered via USPS go missing. The first was just after I moved in so I chalked it up to change of address post office confusion. But I ordered something exciting from The Loopy Ewe exactly one week ago and it shipped two days later and the tracking information indicates that it was delivered the 15th at 2:55pm. It is now the 18th. I checked with some neighbors and my super to see if anyone knew anything, but it’s nowhere to be found. Seriously, folks - really? When Mr Mail Thief opened the package did he (or she, I suppose) say - “Oh goodie! Regia Kaffe Fassett Landscape in the Storm colorway!” That’s what I would have said… but they probably actually said - “Yarn? Bummer.” And then what? Why not just tape the box back shut and put it in front of my door? I would be glad to have it…

I think what the US Postal Service does on a daily basis is pretty amazing… but the lady I spoke to this morning about my missing package was significantly less than friendly. She took my information and told me someone would call me back tomorrow. So after that I called my local branch and asked them not to leave packages at the building anymore. The man I spoke to was very nice and he took my building address and said he’d speak to the carrier and the truck driver and advise them to leave package notices instead of the actual packages. I guess it will be sort of a pain to have to make the trip to the post office whenever I have a package, but it’s far better than never receiving it because it was stolen off my doorstep!

Despite the recent cooling of temperatures here in NYC, it is still officially summer for another week… we still have a little humidity, but we’re down to the mid-70s during the day and pleasantly cool low-60s overnight. I almost need to put a blanket on the bed, but not quite. But the impending autumn weather makes me look a little less crazy for knitting wool socks (and let’s face it, sometimes I need a little help looking sane). Earlier in the summer (maybe July?) Stitch Therapy in the northern end of Park Slope had a super deal on their sale corner (but they always have good stuff in the sale corner) and I picked up three lovely skeins of sock yarn at 40% off each. I got two different colors (my favorites - blue and grey) in the Trekking Pro Natura, which I hadn’t knit before:

And I’ve already knit up the blue - FO pictures to come shortly (just as soon as I fix Photoshop). I also picked up this lovely skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot, in colorway “Steelhead”:

I <3 Bearfoot. The first time I knit with it I was concerned about the mohair-itchiness factor on my feet, but after a few wearings and washings my Bearfoot Hedera’s are as soft as soft can be and super warm. Now to find a pattern for this yarn - Bellatrix socks, perhaps? I think it may work well with the amount of color variegation… thoughts for other patterns? I will have to consult Knitting Sutra’s “no pool” sock pattern list for other ideas…

Yay! A new knitty for fall inspiration!

Must knit the very masculine Henry immediately… for myself and possibly as a throw instead of scarf unless a man appears in my life sometime soon (ha!).

I wish the designer had a blog to follow because I want to see more…

Um. Am I the only one? I think I might be. I received my invite to Ravelry weeks ago and, while I think it’s a cool idea (I was really excited about it when I first read about it on her blog way back in the middle of April) and I think that it’s quite well designed and well made and that they’re doing an amazing job handling the demand of the masses (who knew there were SO MANY knitters online?), I’m just not sure that it has a place in my life except as a research tool. I very well may change my mind about this later but: I really like my blog here and I do understand that Ravelry only gets better the more its users participate, but right now I don’t know that I can justify the time it would require to double-post both here and there. Had Ravelry existed before I started blogging last year I may have just gone that route as I was merely looking for a place to catalog my knitting, but now it’s too late for that!

There are a few things I really like about the site: searching for a pattern I think I might want to try to see it done in other yarns by other knitters, and… well… I like the “UGHs!” Sometimes it’s just more satisfying to see things that didn’t work out right! ‘Cause I have a couple of those hanging around (but well hidden for the time being)…

And here’s my major complaint: Flickr. I’m already hosting all my own photos - so why can’t I just link to them? Maybe it would take a lot more programming to allow that… I don’t know how that works well enough to guess, but I do know that I don’t particularly want to upload all my photos to Flickr just to play along. Apparently this will be changed before they actually officially “open” to the public and maybe I will revisit how I feel at that point.

Please understand that this post is really not intended to be a criticism of Ravelry itself (as I said, the site is really well done) but merely how I feel about where the site fits into my online life at this point. Maybe there are others who feel the same…?

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.