What I did on my vacation, by Rachel

I meant to post this stuff ages ago, I'm sure showing off my Christmas presents on Jan. 6 is way behind the times. But I was way too lazy at home over vacation to figure out how to blog from my parents' computers, and this week back has been craptacular in ways I can only begin to describe. I won't bore you with the details, nothing to do with knitting, just another chapter in the horrific adventure that is my PhD.
Anyway, show and tell time! Lookie what I got!



Knitting books! Victorian Lace Today and the Ann Budd from my folks, and the Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road from J.'s sis. How did they all know exactly what I wanted? Ah, the wonder of Amazon wishlists.



A big ol' mess o' Knitpicks sock yarn, from my dearest Sienna, who has clearly been paying attention to all my ranting about sock yarn adulation. There are 4 skeins each of KP Palette in green, which I'm thinking might be fun for some colorwork (one of my New Year's resolutions - learn Fair Isle) which obviously means I'll have to find another color to pair with it, and KP Gloss in Burgandy, mmmm. 3 skeins of KP Essential Tweed in plum, uber soft and lovely, and 2 skeins KP dancing (I'm not sure what this colorway is called) which has the neatest looking round ropey structure. The Essential Tweed feels so much softer than the plain old Essential I used for my Dad's socks, I don't know if it's just the tweediness somehow imparts softitude, or if they really have changed their formula somewhat.

More more more!



2 skeins of gorgeous alpaca-merino-silk blend, handspun and gifted by J.'s mom.
Look at the lovely subtle color variations:



I have several skeins of her handspun in various shades of cream and fawn sitting around the house, and I have been afraid to do anything with them because I want to think of something really special to use them for. But I think I have so many now (at least 5 or 6 big skeins) that I need to just dive in with something.

And finally, last but the bestest:



12 skeins of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed in Dove from J. Mmmmmmmm. I had been admiring Ashley's progress on her Demi in this yarn and really wanted to make one myself. Then I saw that the yarn was on sale somewhere and I really really really wanted it, and thought just maybe I would break my yarn diet to get it as a Christmas present to myself, but J. convinced me to stay strong, and then he went and bought it for me himself. He is the best one.



Mmmmmm tweedy. This colorway sort of reminds me of balled up wet newspaper. But in a good way.
And now, I really am really serious about only knitting out of my stash for the next thousand years, my stash boxes overfloweth.

Oh yeah, I also did some knitting on the vacay.



1 sock completed in Lorna's Laces shepherd sock in Forest. Boring stockinette with a ribbed cuff, but it fits so nicely.
I was so scared about pooling the whole way down, but seem to have gotten away with minimal damage. Now I can only hope the second skein will treat me so well.



Remember all that complaining I did about Christmas knitting, what with the deadlines and the stuff not being for me and all? Well, now I have jumped right into the wedding knitting:



I started the Baltic Sea Stole in Zephyr laceweight wool/silk in Sage. Of course, this project is for me (to wear at the wedding), but there's still the whole deadline issue. There are also 2 or 3 sweaters that I really wanted to make for myself this winter (and already have the yarn for), but I'm afraid to start them because of this other stupid deadline I've imposed on myself. Wah wah. Well, maybe I can make them in time for the foggy San Francisco summer.

But the good news is, here's what it will look like against a white dress (that's not my wedding dress, just a white comforter):



The pattern is not nearly so obvious, so I can make as many mistakes as I want. Which is good, because I've already made several.

Le contest

Happy new year all!
The surprise Christmas presents were enjoyed by all, and seemed to be truly surprises (maybe my parents have forgotten about my blog). I have lots of things to show you but not the energy to go take pictures of them right now.
But it is time to pick a winner for my first blog contest! This fancy pants random number generator picked comment number 6, or Necia, as the winner. Congrats! I haven't quite decided what the prize should be, but maybe I'll find out from her what kind of things she likes.

Two down

I have finished the second surprise Christmas project! More on that below.

Meanwhile, I have another finished object to show you - the hat from Rebecca 28, out of bulky merino from Handpaintedyarn.com on size 10 denises. I forgot how fast hats are - too bad I never wear them. Here it is blocking:


Here it is on me (it was not fully dry when I tried it on, let me tell you, there are not a whole lot of things less pleasant than putting a bulky soggy wool hat on your head).


I was trying to recapitulate the Rebecca model pose (although our house was lacking sprigs of wheat, so I had to sub a sprig of dried lavendar. Same diff.)
Did I succeed?


I hadn't appreciated how difficult it is to take a picture of the top of your head. This is the only one out of like 20 where I even got a good part of my head in the frame:


This yarn is so soft and squishy, and I love the subtle variations in color. Yay Uruguay! I didn't even use a full skein (I also forgot how little yarn hats take), I'm thinking of maybe a neat neck gaiter like this one with the rest.

Alright, now for the surprise Christmas present.
Here's what I did:


Socks! They're for my dad. This present I can actually model for you myself.


Specs -
pattern: Gentleman's sock with lozenge pattern, from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.
yarn: Knitpicks Essential in Pumpkin, just a titch over 2 skeins. I've heard that they changed the composition of this yarn somewhat so that it's softer - it did feel kind of tough and wirey while I was knitting with it, but once I blocked the socks they felt smooth and soft and lovely. And I love the color (orange is my dad's favorite color).
Needles: Knitpicks dpns US size 1 (which is really more like a size 1.5).
Verdict: yay socks! I hope he likes them.

My secret pal brings all the boys to the yard

(And they're like, it's better than yours... now I've got that song in my head. Thanks a lot, me.)
Hooray for Christmas and secret pals! She sent me a Christmassy package:

It includes some gorgeous Lisa Souza sock yarn in Peacock, which I love, a cute little sock blocker keychain (hiding behind the sock yarn) with instructions to make the cutest little sock to go on it, some cheery red stitch markers, candy cane shaped bath confettis, Christmas cards and notepad, a candle, and much yummy Christmas candy (which is already gone - we got this package a few days ago). There was another kind of Hershey kiss that I had never heard of in there, the candy cane flavor, which were white chocolate with bits of candy cane in them. Yum. I am clearly very behind the times in hershey kiss advances.
Thank you secret pal!!! I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you rock.
Oh p.s., apparently that "Read more" thingy I put into my blog for the last post, in order to make a cut to conceal certain surprises, is now applied to every post I do. Bear with me while I try to figure out how to get rid of them, and don't hate me because you won't get any more blogginess from clicking those links.

One down (and a yarn contest)

I finished one of my two mystery Christmas projects! Since the thought of all this work and no internet-bragging rights makes me sad, I'm going to tell you about it anyway, surprises be damned.

As a feeble attempt to keep it somewhat secret, I've made a cut thingymabob that you can click on below. I think of this as the virtual equivalent of putting Christmas presents under the bed. Everyone knows where it is, but they know they're not supposed to look so the onus is on them. (J., don't look under the bed!) So, anyone who thinks they might be getting a Christmas present from me, and to be broad let's say anyone I know in person, don't click on the link below. You know who you are. (If you're coming here from a direct link to this post, you won't see the cut dealy. But that's probably OK, I won't email the recipient the link or anything.)
*ETA - I've disabled the link since I couldn't figure out how to stop Blogger from putting one on every post.*

As for the afore-mentioned contest, I feel I've been the recipient of so much yarny love recently that I want to pay it forward, ala Aija. I'm going to make it simple, if you leave a comment in this post, I'll enter you into the contest. The winner will get some sock yarn from my stash (or, if you're not a sock knitter, something else). Let's say it's open until the end of 2006 (since I probably would not get around to mailing the thing before Christmas anyway).
Hooray! My first contest!

Just so there's something for everyone, here's a pic of a persimmon tart I made last weekend:

Notice the heart in the middle? That's for love.

Here's the big surprise!

It's a Picovoli! It's for my mother. Knowing her, she's probably clicked on this link anyway. Mom, if you're reading this, you have to put on your best pretend surprise face at Christmas.
Since my mother is much smaller than I am (she's 5'4" and 34" bust, I'm 5'8" and 38"), I didn't bother trying to model the Picovoli myself. (well, I did try it on, and it barely covers my navel. Not pretty.) Instead, I've enlisted the services of my favorite household model, Paddington:

As you can see, it covers his navel quite adequately.

Natasha wanted to know what was so interesting:


A close-up:


The specs:
Pattern - Picovoli, by Grumperina of course, from Magknits, size 32" bust.
Yarn - Knitpicks Shine Sport in Orchid, just under 5 skeins.
Needles - Ooh boy, that's a long story. I bought a Bryspun circular size 4 for this project, since I didn't have a shorter size 4 circ, and it broke at the join after a few rows. So I brought it back to the store and got another one, and it broke at the join after a few more rows. Grrrr. So at that point I just switched to the longer size 4 circ I had (I forget what brand, but it's metal) and stretched the bejeezus out of the stitches to make them fit on there. Probably not the smartest way to knit, but it worked out OK.

This is an awesome pattern! My one complaint is that the picot neckline is a bit floppy. This could be due to not blocking it aggressively enough, but it just seems so much heavier than the rest of the shirt that it can't help but fall over. Spray on starch, perhaps? Otherwise it's an adorable little top. I might need to make a longer (and less pink) one for myself.

I'm dreaming of a slightly chilly Christmas

It's been cold in San Francisco this week. Probably not what people in the rest of the country would consider cold, but I stepped outside earlier this week, and I was like huh, what is this strange sensation in my fingers? Oh, my hands are cold! Maybe I should dig through my closet for some gloves.
Unfortunately, even though I don't think it's dropped below 45F outside, our apartment, in typical San Francisco style, has horrible heating. It has been nigh impossible to push the temp much above 60 inside this week unless we're cooking. So the extremities have been getting a bit chilly.
I've got several projects in my head lined up for after all the Christmas knitting, but this week I've been thinking a lot about making this hat (from Rebecca 28) in bulky merino from Handpaintedyarn.com (of Malabrigo fame) in Dusty Rose. Or Antique Rose. Something Rose:


This yarn was already in my stash, no cheating here.
I like that the hat has earflaps but no ties to hang around awkwardly or tie in a dorky bow under your chin. Maybe once I've made it I can find a sprig of wheat to chew on as happily as that model.

In other news, I won ANOTHER contest, this one over at yarnophiliac. She dyes her own yarn (etsy shop here, definitely go check it out) and sent me this gorgeous variegated green sock yarn and the cutest green and white stitch markers to match.


With all the awesome goodies I've been getting what with the contests and the secret pals, I've been thinking I will copy Aija and have my own pay-it-forward contest. So that's coming up, I haven't decided what the prize will be, but it will probably come out of my stash, because of the whole moratorium and stuff. Speaking of which, the shoes count is up to 3 pairs since the yarn diet started. But, in all fairness, one of them was a pair of hiking shoes to replace a worn out pair, and the other two only happened because I was looking for wedding shoes. Granted, neither of them are actually going to be worn to the wedding, but I HAD to go to these shoe stores and I am not to be held accountable for my behavior. Actual wedding shoes remain unfound.

I wish I hadn't knit this.

I found out a few weeks ago that my cousin has breast cancer. She's 30. Needless to say, this totally sucks. It's scary, and sad, and scary some more. I don't know much about cancer or medicine, but it's stage III (which means it's not anywhere else in her body) and she's otherwise very healthy and she's started chemo and I've heard that there have been a lot of advances in breast cancer treatment recently. So that's good.
Anyway I made her a chemo cap, but I wish I didn't have an occasion to knit a chemo cap, hence the title of this post.
Here it is (modeled by my sis over Thanksgiving):


It's made out of 1 strand of Lang Cora (which is one of those super uber soft synthetic yarns that makes you marvel at how far the technology of softness has come along) and 1 strand Cascade Fixation for stretch, on size 10 dpns, a few inches ribbing at the bottom (not that you can tell) and then just stockinette for the rest. It is so soft and cosy, everyone in the family had to try it on. I'm thinking of getting some more of this yarn for bedtime socks.

I also made a pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving and forgot to take a picture until it was mostly gone, but I wanted to show you the neat swirlies (result of dividing the filling in 2 and only putting the pumpkin in half, then came the swirling):


Delish! I hope all of you had lovely Turkey days (or if you're not American, Thursdays) as well.

I heart my secret pal

Seriously, she is the cat's pajamas. The bees knees. The shizknit. (Yes, I know I spelled that wrong. Didn't I make a cute pun there? I'm sure nobody else has ever thought of that.)
Anyway, she sent me another package! Can you even believe it? I am still longingly fondling the last stuff she sent me. When I said that I want to start knitting with some of my new sock yarns (but am holding myself back for fear of not finishing Christmas presents), it was that beautiful variegated brown stuff she sent me that I was really thinking of. Anyway, here's what she sent me:

I forgot to mention in the other post how nice the presentation of her packages is (probably because I was too eagerly ripping everything open). She picked out tissue paper to match the color theme of the package (plus, there's a color theme to the package! (it's blue)), and put little notecards on some of the things and cute gift bags/boxes. Anyway, on to the good stuff. In the position of honor in front is 2 skeins of KP gloss sock yarn in Dusk, exactly the color I was coveting. Yum. There are also: cute blue flowered gift tags, apple cinammon tea, 2 little teensy jars of jam, blue sock-shaped point protectors, knitting-themed notecards, and a size 1 KP circular needle. Awesome! How does she know exactly what I will like? I usually think of myself as a pretty picky person.

In other news, I got myself some Lorna's Laces shepherd sock yarn a while back. This place was having a great deal where you get 8 skeins for $46. Why am I unable to resist yarn sales? Oh, but the catch was the 8 skeins were a surprise, although it was guaranteed that there would be 4 sets of 2 so you could make socks out of all of them. Anyway, from left to right they are: Forest (I originally got Liberty, that red white and blue one, but that was before the most recent election and I was feeling most unpatriotic, so I swapped them on the Knittyboard for the Forest color, which I like much better anyway), Sand Ridge, Purple Club, and Happy Stripe. I was a bit unsure on the Happy Stripe when it showed up, but it's grown on me since. It is, as the name suggests, very happy looking!


Anyway, it was this purchase that forced me to admit to J. that maybe I had a little problem and maybe I needed some help. I'm really running out of storage spaces for my yarn stash, which is pretty ridiculous. Our apartment is not that small. Anyway he has taken his role as yarnoholic sponsor seriously and has stated that any yarn that shows up at our front door is to be immediately donated to Goodwill. I made him make an exception for Secret Pal yarn. So I'm once again on a yarn diet. But I have bought 2 pairs of shoes since the yarn moratorium started.

Not much knitting

I have been knitting, but I've only been working on 2 surprise Christmas presents and I'm so paranoid about not finishing them in time that I haven't let myself start anything else, despite the fact that I would really really really like to start knitting some of the many new fancy sock yarns I've aquired. I think it's really nice to knit people gifts, I like giving people unique gifts and obviously something I've made myself is about as unique as it can get (since my attention span is too short to ever make the same thing twice). But at the same time I wish I was a faster knitter, since there are things I'd like to start for myself but feel like I can't until January. Boo.

Anyway, to keep you entertained in the mean time, I'll tell you about some non-knitting things. J. and I have been living the young single no kids high life the last few weekends, which for us means weekend trips.
Last weekend (the 4th) I surprised J. with a trip to the Russian River area (our favorite area for wine tasting, straight north of SF).
We stayed overnight in the beautiful Bodega Bay area:


And then we hit the wineries. This is California's version of fall foliage:


Look! A persimmon tree! I'd never seen one of those before. I thought they were oranges when we saw them from the car, but J. insisted they were persimmons and I thought he was crazy. But he was right.


Then, this most recent weekend since J. had Friday off we drove down to Santa Barbara to visit his sister. On the way we stopped in Monterey for a few hours and went to the aquarium, where we saw (among many other things) some hauntingly beautiful jellyfish.



Can you believe these things are real live animals and not just some crazy made up cartoon or something?

In Santa Barbara we went for a walk overlooking the ocean, where we saw some dolphins and many adorable sea birds, like pelicans and snowy plovers.


And we went to the Elwood Butterfly Preserve, where jillions of Monarch butterflies hang out in the winter. It was amazing. I have never seen so many butterflies in one place before, and it was really warm so they were all flying around like crazy. It turns out that flying butterflies are very hard to photograph. Here's one that kept still for a few seconds:



And I guess, since you've been so good and looked at all my vacation pictures, I'll show you a bit of my WIPs.
This one is an orange surprise:


And here's a pink surprise:


I hope the intended recipients like them!

Blogger sucks, my SP9 pal rocks!

So, I meant to post this yesterday, but Blogger was driving me CRAZY! It still seems to be not uploading pics at all, but at least now I have been forced to open a Flickr account and learn how to get the pictures from there onto my blog. It's been a slow learning curve. Yesterday I learned how to get pictures onto Flickr. Today I learned how to get multiple pics onto my blog.

Anyway I got an AWESOME (please forgive the many instances of all caps writing, but I need to convey to you how cool my pal is) package from my SP9 secret pal. She (I'm assuming it's a she, please correct me if I'm wrong) is the best! Here's my loot:

Pear preserves made by the pal herself:


I have to tell you, this is great bcs J. is obsessed with jam/preserves/jelly and the like. When I moved in with him I was shocked to find that he thinks it's normal to keep like 4 or 5 different kinds of open jam jars in the fridge (and often several more in the pantry) just to have a wide variety of jams. It took me a while to accept this way of living, I was more of the philosophy that you buy one jar of jam, and then when it's gone, you buy another one. But I have come around to J.'s way of thinking, aided in no small part by his persistence in buying tons of jam. There was one time shortly after we'd moved in together that we had run out of jam (this was back when I was putting my foot down about buying all the jams) and he called and asked me to pick up some jam on my way home from work, so I did and I even bought 2 jars as a concession to him, only to get home and find that he had bought 3 different jars of his own, sneakily having figured out that this would be the only way to get several kinds into the house.

Anyway I digress. I also got some candy:


And a long size 1 circular Addi Turbo plus Magic Loop booklet (hooray):


And last, but by far my favorite, some gorgeous sock yarn made by a company called Sugar Bunny Boulevard, which I had never heard of, but I'm so glad I've found out about it now! It is so super soft and beautiful and I love the colors. I'm thinking it would make a lovely Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks.


So thanks secret pal! I'm so thrilled with everything you gave me!

This wasn't in the SP9 package but it is a little bitty punkin that I carved for Halloween. The one from the last post was J.'s (that was before I figured out how to put multiple pictures from Flickr in one blog post).