Someone at Sock Summit ’09 said to me I read your blog a lot. Which made me realize a couple of things. (1) Oh, yeah. I do have one of those blog thingies. Right. (2) Anyone who reads my blog a lot has been reading the same thing for a long time now. (3) (ok… three things. that still qualifies as a couple, more or less) I did sort of say I’d be back after Sock Summit. And — new realization here — sadly, Sock Summit is pretty much over.

Ahem. Let’s begin at the beginning, shall we, gentle reader?

sock hop socks

Part of my prep for Sock Summit included knitting socks to wear to the Sock Hop. Even though, sadly enough, I didn’t actually make it to the Sock Hop, I did wear my socks at SS09. These were tons of fun to knit and embellish. They feature mind-hurting techniques like intarsia-in-the-round and other stuff that I made up as I went along (so you know I was enjoying myself!). The stripped foot was inspired by a picture of a 1950′s candy-striped refrigerated door. The rock ‘n’ roll lettering recalls retro color-block advertising and is bordered by a diner tile pattern. The sheep and musical notes are my version of a poodle skirt. And, yes, they are fraternal. The yarn is Blue Moon Sock Candy — a wonderful cotton yarn with just a bit of bounce added that saved me from having to wear wool socks in the summer. (The colors are Granny Apple, Chocolate, Butter Cream, Borage, Dusty Blue, Sunlight, Poppy.) The beads, silk ribbon, tiny buttons, and glitzy package wrapping string that I used for the embellishments came from my craft stash.

The week before Sock Summit it was over 100 F in Portland for days on end (that’s more than 38 C). I note this in passing only because I decided that I needed something new to wear to SS09, I didn’t have much time to knit it, and knitting wool at that temp seemed like crazy making stuff. But I had some linen in my stash — Louet Euroflax, to be exact. Although the end result is lovely, and gets softer and more drapey with every wash, it’s mostly like knitting with twine. Lovely twine, to be sure, but twine nonetheless. Here was one place that the heat actually served me well. Damp hands helped to soften the yarn. I know… ewwww… but I washed the finished Clapotis a couple of times. I put tassels on all four corners, just because I could, and scattered just a few beads in the tassel strands. I didn’t get a good picture of it, but Rachel and Angela — who insisted on being all fan girl — did. You can see I had bad hair that day. Yes. It’s true. I got to meet Barbara Walker. When I had Very. Bad. Hair.

voodoo to you too

I apologize in advance for the quality of the following pictures. For some reason I just could not remember to bring my camera with me anywhere I went. All of these were taken with my iPhone. It’s not the best camera in the world, but hopefully you will get the idea. As always, click on the pics to biggie-size and pop up the little slide show thingy.

My Sock Summit week started a little bit early. Lorilee Beltman from City Knitting was just one of the amazing array of teachers that Stephanie and Tina gathered together for SS09. Lorilee arrived in Portland a few days early and I offered to… show here a good time.

We started out at Voodoo Doughnuts. Lorilee tried the eponymous Voodoo Doughnut, and I indulged in my favorite bacon maple bar.

lots of cheese

Fortified by Voodoo, we headed for Tillamook. Our first stop was the Tillamook Cheese Factory, where they are celebrating their 100th birthday. From one side of the observation floor, you can see big vats where the milk is cooked and curdled and the cheese is actually made. On the other side, we watched big blocks of aged cheese whirling around conveyor belts and such while people cut them into smaller blocks and weighed them and packaged them for sale.

There’s an ice cream counter on the observation floor. We may have stood in line and indulged in a cone. It was their 100th birthday, after all.

Lorilee and friend

Our next stop was the Tillamook Air Museum, where Lorilee found a friend!

The museum is housed inside a blimp hanger that is the largest free-standing wooden structure in the world. It covers more than 7 acres and is more than 15 stories tall – all with no internal supports. The thing is freaking huge! Seriously. I have to admit I’m not all that into military aircraft. It was interesting seeing all of the old planes and really early helicopters that looked like death traps. But the real draw for me, personally, is the sheer size and scope of the building and the interesting story behind its construction. Well worth a visit if you are ever in the area!

munson creek falls

From there, we made our way down a narrow, one-lane gravel road (with, fortunately, plenty of turnouts for passing) to Munson Creek State Park. Munson Creek Falls is the second highest falls in Oregon — only Multnomah Falls is higher — and the highest in the Coast Range. Munson Creek itself is an important spawning area for salmon. The park is situated in a canyon with tall stands of cedar and Sitka spruce all around and, of course, the usual temperate rain forest understory of ferns and moss and berry bushes. There’s a trail that leads, after about 1/4 mile, to the closest point one is allowed to the falls. The picture was taken from the end of the trail. At the trail head right next to the creek there is a cute little picnic area with a couple of tables. (No water or restrooms.)

Munson Creek is another well worth a visit but out of the way place. I had no trouble negotiating the road in my Prius. But there is not a lot of space at the end of the road turn-around. RVs and trailers would not fair well.

blue moon cafe (not related)

Leaving Munson Creek, we realized that it was getting on towards the middle of the afternoon. I had been a bad hostess and dragged Lorilee all over Tillamook without even offering to feed her. And we were both starving.

We drove back into Tillamook to find (a) a likely place to eat and (b) someplace that had decent coffee. And the first thing we saw was the Blue Moon Cafe. I’m sure there is no relation to that other blue moon, but it seemed auspicious. We ordered sandwiches that turned out to be hearty, fresh, and tasty. Thus fortified, we walked a block away to a coffee house. I sadly did not get the name of the place, but the coffee was great.

From Tillamook we drove up to Astoria, because it’s pretty and picturesque and everyone should drive across the Astoria-Megler Bridge (The. Tallest. Scariest. Bridge. Ever.) at least once. And then we followed the Columbia River back to Portland, crossing at the St. John’s Bridge and back to The Kennedy School, the start of our adventures.

Lorilee meets Terminator

Over dinner, Lorilee claimed to be a wine drinker and not to like that beer stuff (or words to that effect). I plied her with introduced her to Terminator Stout. She admitted that maybe this beer stuff was OK. She drank the entire glass.

And that is the tale of my pre-Sock Summit adventure. Next time – and it will be soon – I will tell you all about Sock Summit, where an amazing time was had by all.

Helena sweater

Babies must be warmly clothed, I’m sure you will agree with that, gentle reader. And when a baby is expected by a knitter who has knitterly friends, one can be assured that said baby will be warmly clothed, indeed!

Rachel (aka trtlgrl) has been sporting a baby-bump for quite some time now, and I was afraid that trtlbby would arrive in the world before I could knit something for the poor wee tyke, because, as we’ve already established, babies must be warmly clothed. So a couple of weeks ago I spent all of my free, non-sleeping minutes frantically knitting.

I started with this little sweater: the Helena sweater
by Alison Green Will from knitty.com. I changed it just a little bit. I liked the picot edging so much that I made it go all the way around the sweater, instead of just at the bottom. And I have only one tie – an I-cord tie that looks like an extension of the purl ridges at the top of the skirt.

little booties

When I managed to finish the sweater with time to spare, I also whipped up these little booties. In flipping through the book 50 Baby Bootees To Knit by Zoe Mellor, I saw that these had the same picot trim as the sweater. It almost seemed like they were made to go together.

The booties were a fun, fast knit – hardly any time to knock them out. I used the same yarn to edge the booties as edged the sweater. I made just a few changes — see the particulars below.

Contrary to appearance, the booties are both the same size. Perspective is a funny thing.

trtlgrl and trtlbby-bump

Rachel seemed happy with the sweater and booties. Can’t tell if the trtlbby-bump is happy or not, but we’ll assume she is. (Just outside the picture to the right is a pile of hand knit trtlbby swag that guarantees she will be neither cold nor naked.)

And I just made it, as trtlbby will be here sometime in the next week, guaranteed.

The Particulars:

Sweater:

• Yarn: the sadly discontinued Ella Rae Silkience (41% cotton, 39% Modal, 12% Silk, 8% Rayon), 119 yds/108 m per 500 g skein, in colorways 16 – Grass Green and 20 – Berry
• Needles: a pair of Addi Turbo 24″ circulars, US#3 (3.25 mm) and a pair of Addi Lace 24″ circulars, US#2 (3.00 mm)
• Pattern: Helena sweater by Alison Green Will
• Modifications: Instead of having a garter border around the neck and front, I made the picot edging go all the way around. I made a single I-cord tie rather than two garter-stitch ties.

Booties:

• Yarn: Dale Of Norway Baby Ull (100% Merino wool), 180 yds/165 m per 1.75 oz/50 g skein, in colorway 0020 – Cream — I used maybe 1/2 of the total. The trim is leftover Berry Silkience from the sweater.
  
  
• Needles: US#6 (4 mm) Addi Turbo and Addi Lace circulars
• Pattern: From the book 50 Baby Bootees To Knit by Zoe Mellor
• Modifications: I used different needles so that the size is more like 6-month. I used Judy’s Magic Cast-On to start so that the bottom of the foot could be grafted together. The booties were to have little bunny ears and bunny face, but I decided they were too cute as-is and left those off. (Besides, these were supposed to be newborn size. The thought of a 6-month-old trtlbby possibly jamming an ear into her little mouth and maybe choking gave me the heeby-jeebies.)

the Alamo – or at least the church

You will remember, gentle reader, that a couple of weeks ago (less a weekend) I headed off, bright and shiny and finally (I thought) over the plague that had struck me down, along with many of my coworkers. I headed off for a little business trip to San Antonio. I have never visited the fair city of San Antonio, but I was looking forward to three days spent looking at the inside of some nameless ballroom in some nameless hotel watching a series of oh-so-spicy PowerPoint presentations on scintillating subjects that I won’t go into here.

Yeah. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I was well equipped. I took knitting with me: the Snake River #2 socks, which I knit on a fair bit and got up to the ankles on; and the Jub Jub Bird socks, which I totally ignored. I had hand-knit shawls with me, lest the conference rooms become chilly. I had plenty hand-knit socks with me, which turned out to be… overkill. I had very warm feet because the weather was glorious — 80 F and sunny. I ate every meal sitting outside, soaking up the warm rays and glad for a few days of spring. Although I was well prepared with various types of product, my hair grew to enormous proportions. Ah, well. I can forgive much for that kind of weather.

One night we made it to a place called Rudy’s for dinner. It bills itself as the worst bar-b-que in Texas. Whatever. I will admit to eating an enormous amount of chicken, brisket, ribs, sausage, turkey, beans, potato salad, and creamed corn, all shared by a dozen or so colleagues, and enjoying it very much. We ordered so much they gave us an entire loaf of white bread. (I have since learned that white bread is a necessary part of any barbecue. I don’t know why.) Rudy’s had the most amazing barbecue sauce – supposedly developed by Doc Holliday at the OK coral (can’t you picture this… Doc: hold your fire there, pardner, while I rustle up a mess of ma special recipe bar-b-que sauce. I’m feelin’ a might peckish... ) I tried really hard to figure out how to get some of it home. But, with bag check costing $15, I finally had to pass.

The hotel was quite far away from central San Antonio. I was disappointed by this, as I really wanted to see the Alamo. So I didn’t bring my camera. But one night there were buses to take us down to Riverwalk. Since that’s only a short way from the Alamo, I got to at least see the outside of it (it was closed for the night). I have to admit – pretty cool! With no camera, I had to be content with a shot from my iPhone.

Knitwit bangle

I arrived home and almost instantly came down with the plague again. Joy. On Monday I was supposed to go to the Dentist to get started on those two crowns I need on the teeth that were root-canalled just before Madrona (remember that?). I canceled the dentist appointment and went to the doctor instead. There I was informed that I have bronchitis and given prescriptions for antibiotics and a little something to help with the coughing so I could get some sleep.

All week, my days went like this: crawl out of bed… drink coffee, hoping to wake up a little; dial into work and stare at the screen waiting for coffee to kick in try to accomplish a few things; wonder if I really have to eat lunch and decide the instructions take with food are probably not kidding; eat the minimum lunch I think I can get away with; dial into work and try to accomplish a few things; skip dinner; go to bed.

The week wasn’t totally horrid, though. One day I found this bangle in the mail, and I was oh, so pleased! Isn’t this just the coolest thing you’ve ever seen? It’s an 8mm plastic, sliver-glitter-covered, knitting needle that’s been made into a bangle. These are made exclusively by Liana Kabel. The link goes to her Etsy shop, so you can order your own. Despite the long miles traveled – all the way from Australia – it arrived quickly and in perfect condition. Love it, love it, love it, and can’t wait to be well enough to wear it somewhere that people will actually see it!

could spring be far behind?

Although I did wear it outside today so I could take a pic with the sun making the glitter all sparkly and stuff.

I wore it outside without a coat on… and… I was barefoot. Yeah. I really wasn’t outside that long and I didn’t get chilled or anything. It was a bit cold on the old toes, but so nice to feel the earth under my soles. I’m a barefoot girl, no doubt about it. (I can vividly remember Mama giving me what-for because I took the garbage out across the back yard to the alley through two feet of snow barefoot. It didn’t stop me from doing it again.)

And this was what I saw on my cherry tree.

Yes, the camellia is blooming — poor, confused thing. It was supposed to bloom at Christmas, but snow and ice nipped it in the bud and only a few blossoms made it through. The crocus are blooming, too. And the daylilies and tulips are poking their little arms up.

Can spring be far behind?

First and foremost and always, I would like to thank Tina, Stephanie and Cat for the wonderfulness and amazement that is the Sock Summit teachers list. I am truly, truly humbled to be in such company.

I learned that I was teaching when Stephanie called me. I was on the ferry on my way to Friday Harbor. The ferry was in the middle of Puget Sound. If you’re not sure where that is, gentle reader, feel free to consult google maps. I’ll wait right here.

Notice how there’s a lot of water between Friday Harbor and, oh, just about anything else? Who knew that you could get cell phone service out there! But, as I calmly knitted on the ferry, chatting with a few other knitters, my phone rang. And it was The Yarn Harlot herself. And through the whole conversation I kept thinking… oh holy $@%* what if I lose this cell phone signal and hang up on the Harlot. Which, fortunately, did not happen. So I knew that I was teaching most likely. But I was sworn to utter secrecy. And I had no idea who else was teaching. And I was excited by the whole idea and it sounded really fun, in an unreal sort of way.

Then I saw the list.

And oh my! What a list! There’s a huge amount of sockerly and knitterly knowledge represented by that list. There are people on the list I value as friends. And people whose feet I would like to sit at and just soak up any tiny pearls of wisdom that might come my way. And people I would die to take a class from myself. And all are people who I admire a huge, huge amount. When all of the people on that list are gathered together in the Convention Center, I’m afraid that the fiberish energy will cause a rip in the space-time continuum and a wormhole will open and we will all be sucked into it and end up in either Star Trek or Firefly (hopefully the latter because I think they had better knitwear).

I gasped when I read that list. Because all of a sudden it started to feel real. Really real. And I started to feel sort of sick to my stomach.

And I thought that maybe I was over-reacting just a little bit. Because excitement and nerves usually do not make me throw up.

And then I realized that I was sick to my stomach because I was, actually, sick. Felled by the virus that is going around. Sick as a dog.

So I started knitting.

Harmonia's Rings

This is Harmonia’s Rings by Sivia Harding. It was a really fun, fast knit and kept me busy while I started down the road to recovery. If I look happy, it’s because I am. (Sorry for the blurry self-portrait, it is apparently possible, although perhaps not advisable, to take your own picture with your eyes close.) I love this cowl. It’s warm and cozy and just perfect.

Yes, my hair looks like that when it’s wet. It looks about the same when it’s dry, except expanded. What can I say.

The Particulars:

• Pattern: Harmonia’s Rings by Sivia Harding
• Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Luscious Single Silk (50% Merino/50% Silk, 500yds/457m per 8 oz/226g hank) in colorway Bleck
• Needles: US #9 (5.5mm) from my Denise kit
• Modifications: I knit one extra stitch pattern repeat, with increases. Sivia is a tiny little slip of a thing. I, decidedly, am not.

toes. still.

I know that, from this picture, it looks like I haven’t made any progress on the latest socks.

Not. True.

They look very much the same as the last picture because I’ve frogged them back 3 times — twice just to the end of the toe increases, and once all the way. I just couldn’t get happy with the results of the stitch pattern. First I didn’t like the way I’d done the double-decreases. Frogged to start of stitch pattern.

I tried a different double-decrease, and I didn’t like how it ended up looking like very narrow Jay Walker chevrons and didn’t play very well with the way I placed the toe increases. Frogged all the way.

I tried a more standard feather-and-fan pattern, using KFB increases instead of YO because I didn’t think the colorway would play well with lace. I used KFB increases on the toes, too, to keep the whole theme going. The pattern did not look good with the colorway. Frogged to start of stitch pattern.

I’m sort of back where I started now. I’m using the double decrease from the second attempt, along with KFB increases. I don’t think it resembles the Jay Walker pattern too much now. And I like the way it’s working with the colorway.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Also in the mean time has been this little root canal thingy. And new tires for #1 Son. And freezing fog along with another tiny smattering of snow. (text message from #1 Son: Snow. So. Over. It.) And, well… life.

But I’m feeling that next two weeks are going to be good! For one thing, at the end of today I will be officially on vacation! Next week I’m heading up to Friday Harbor for Cat Bordhi’s annual visionary retreat, where, it is to be hoped, I will get something done on the book and get to rub elbows with some amazing people in a gorgeous setting. And right after that is the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival, where I’m taking a class from Nancy Bush and rubbing elbows with more amazing knitterly and fiberly types until Saturday. What more could I ask?

So, if you are at Madrona, be on the lookout for me. I usually carry a blue knit bag dotted with buttons from Ravelry and PDX Knit Bloggers and Persistent Illusion and other stuff. Other than the one class I will be foot loose and fancy free, as the saying goes. Step up and say hello!

Chapeau Marnier

Chapeau Marnier is finished and will be shortly in the mail to its intended recipient. What a fun, fast knit this was! Again, I really wish that I could adequately photograph this yarn. The sparkle in it is so pretty, without being over the top. It’s just then perfect amount of bling. But I don’t think a camera will ever capture it. You have to see it in person.

The particulars:

• Yarn: Stitchjones Glam Sock (63% superwash merino, 20% silk, 14% nylon, 2% silver), 420 yds per 3.5 oz/100 g skein, in colorway Silver — I used a fraction of the total and have tons left.
• Pattern: Chapeau Marnier by Marnie MacLean from the Summer 2007 issue of Knitty.
• Needles: a US#6 from my Denise set to cast on, and then knit on a pair of US#2 Addi Turbo circs.
• Ribbon: 1-1/2 yds of double-sided satin ribbon.
• Modification: none. Really.

jabberwocky

And, since 3 or 4 unfinished pairs of socks are, apparently, not enough… I cast on another pair.

This was actually prompted by having to darn my Rooster Feather socks yet again. I’m afraid they are not long for this world, but I really like the feather-and-fan pattern I used on them. So I reverse engineered and started a new pair.

The yarn is Blue Moon Socks That Rock in Jabberwocky. So I’m afraid these are fated to be called Jubjub Birds or some such atrocity.

And can I just end by saying that yesterday I heard three words that I’ve been waiting to hear for a very, very, very long time: Former President Bush.