ProseKnitic – of Words und Wolle

Harrogate dates from the late 1500s when mineral springs were discovered.By 1740 it was a thriving town off the spa trade and expanded even further in the 1800s and early 1900s. It became one of the places for the London crowd and peerage.

The hotel I stayed in is a bit of a Dowager with an interesting history.

Originally built for the Crown, she passed into private hands, is thought to have hosted some significant political and literary figures and stars from other venues. During WWII the hotel was used extensively by the RAF, not passing back into private hands till the mid 50s. Most rooms are still quite ordinary

but there are some lovely details to the hotel (not pictured are large lobby and lounges complete with leather chair groupings.

The Pump House Museum was closed (next door)

Calypso was finished.

Angeluna was right. There are a lot of clocks which have to be reset manually. I did the watch, the one on the mantel and the kitchen clock. Noticed the one in the car today when I was totally confused at the mismatch between it and my watch.

My microwave doesn’t have a clock, but the stove does. Not a clue on how to reset it. Will have to find the manual, find the right page, read it three times. After I fail to figure it out, I am going to have to haul the laptop into the kitchen so as to be able to read the directions and work it out.

Yes, you guessed it. No manual other than the one that I finally found on line.

Oh, there is also one in my camera that seems to exist in a world where no one has daylight savings time, time zone changes or 29 days in February.

I finished the lower jaw (birds head) on Phoenix today but you are going to have to wait for pictures. 44 Rows to go on the body…. and I really can’t knit any more on the sleeves till the body is complete just to make sure that the sleeve width and the armholes match exactly.

I am off to Yorkshire (RAF Menwith Hill) in the morning and will be home late on Wednesday night. One of my colleagues is going to stop by for the dog so she gets out, fed and has people during the day.

I am off to make sure that the garbage is out, the dishes are washed, uniform packed up and the house does not look too disreputable when the dog is picked up.

Oh, and to make sure I have the addresses so those skeins of yarn can get on their way!

Guess who remembered the change to Day Light Savings time early this morning when her alarm – powered by the cell phone went off. Looking at my watch, it was 0500 so I went back to sleep. A significant number of minutes later I headed downstairs and checked email. I had lots of time. Friend was picking me up at 0845. I was fine, right? After all, my watch said 0730.

Happening to glance up at the computer data line in the middle of doing email.  0830, which you had already figured out. Dashing through the shower, I was partly dressed when Beverly rang the bell and managed to get us out of the house only 10 minutes behind.

We were headed to Sunningdale Train Station as the first stop on our way to ExCel Center for the

Best of Britain and Ireland Show 2009

where we spent the day visiting booths, entering drawings for free weekends, and collecting literature and freebies. While we were at it, we watched main state performances (Rabbie Burns performace, a few pipers, a really good folk duo – The Dealers.

And then there are various persons wandering in costume

(I missed Henry VIII and several others of the formal dress variety).
Besides booking tours, seeing flyers from all over the country, you were also invited to rent what you needed for parties

Or listen to an indoor pool while learning about a great website that monitors the road conditions across the country (those pesky construction zones, speed cameras and accidents just waiting for you to join the queue.

Calypso

I am making progress – knit out of Panda multicolored silk on 3.25 mm needles, I now have 14 of 19 repeats completed at the end of the day

shows the pattern a bit better.

Docklands

is literally the old dock area of London, now under major gentrification. The loading cranes can still be seen, but more as objects d’art than as useful working machinery.

How can I but help showing shinies?

Toys are one of the joys of a knitter’s life. Certainly, one can not have too many needles.  Whether looking at size, length or materials it is easy to justify another knitting needle or five. Even if you are not a knitter who has multiple WIPs at anyone time, it would not be reasonable to be without needle choices.

In fact one of the most technically competent knitters I know does just one project at a time. She also has an extensive needle collection and introduced me to Off Hand Design. Fortunately for me, it happened at the same time as some closeout sales. Their needles cases however useful and lovely, wonderful to play with but not shiny.

These are shiny

Truly shiny and sliding through stitches so easily that the silk would like to spin away. For these, I am using a pair of straight needles (first time in years). They are gold (for the size) and feel great in my hands. I want more but straight needles? Now, if the Signature Arts team would just start making circulars I would be down a lot of money. Permanent colors representing the needle sizes? Easily slip of sticky yarns and the ability to choose a really sharp point for lace or stranded work.

Oh, BTW – I knit another six repeats on Calyso. You saw that.

My right arm didn’t feel like throwing today. Since I need sleeves for this sweater anyway it seemed reasonable to get them started.

Starting with a provisional cast on, I am knitting the main portion of the sleeves in the round from the bottom up and have steeks between the sleeve sections. My plan is to knit the main length, cut, seam and then work downward for the cuff.

My last Kauni sweater didn’t have sleeves that match and I didn’t want to go there again. The sleeves so far are 20+ cm long and no where near this light in color (inside and flash).

A day with mindless knitting on a circular needle while watching CSI. Not bad at all….

There is something so fun, so appealing about all those bright and shiny dangles. Over the last year, I have collected quite a few and thought briefly about making my own.

I have jewels,

creatures

and abstract objects.

And then there are those that I use on a daily basis. They are really simple. They are thin and they have no dangles. There is nothing to get caught in that row, the one below or the one below that. No struggling with a yo increase next to a marker.

I buy another batch every time I place an order with The Loopy Ewe

Phoenix

Finally got to the armhole and 17 rows past it. Two views (with and without flash)

Watching and listening

more CSI: Miami.
City of Fire – Ellis on audio.

Doors

Packages to Linda, Ruth, Melinda and Angeluna going out in the next couple of days (ok, it might not be till Wed since that is the next time I get to the APO) and I have something shiny for Diana (who spins) which she will get next month when I get back to Germany. I have included the links to the three with blogs. Ruth is an extremely talented lady with a love of tea, Melinda provides a wide variety of book reviews and Angeluna carries the world – as well as participating in Sock Madness this year.

me? I knit another 16 rounds on Phoenix

which means only five more rows till I start the armhole steeks.

Since I made the mad dash to Croughton today, I have Season 3&4 of CSI:Miami checked out and watched the first disk tonight. Tomorrow I am going to watch the two part Bones (4) in the UK.

I think we all have our favorite types of TV series. I seem to treat them the same way that I treat an author series: when I find an author that I like I go back and read what they have written in the order that they wrote it. I don’t like starting series in the middle. Even worse, I hate cliff hangers. Means that I don’t watch the last episode of anything till the next year’s has started. I like the forensic shows, I haven’t liked a medical show since Trapper John (early 80s). As for those shows which feature an extremely nasty main character (The Office, The Closer), I gave up on them a while ago since no character had the decency to put them out of their misery.

(Don’t shoot me!)

(I will finish the spread sheet in the morning, hit the Random Generator (www.random.org) followed by sending off some emails.

So if you get an email from me asking about what color you like, or for a mailing address, please don’t mark it as SPAM…..

Of course, that assumes that this post will load. I managed finally to access the house backup drive. Something about not remembering where I had put the basic log-in information. I stood there in the disastrous remains of the torn apart office and could visualize the booklet in my mind. But not in the office, and not in Ms Soprano’s room (where the router and drive are actually located). Nor in any miscellaneous boxes, shelves or yarn baskets.

I have no clue why I thought that placing it in my nightstand was such a brilliant idea, but there you have it.

Phoenix

Even at just a few rows a night, the Phoenix is steadily growing. 15 more rows and it will be time to start the armhole steeks. The shift from lighter grey to darker seems starker than many of the other changes, but I still like it. I have to admit, the black/red contrast is still my favorite. Might explain why I have picked that combination in stranded work before. Also interesting to note is that I am still working on the first two balls of yarn.

Future Projects

Been contemplating Katherine from Tudor Roses or, taking the elements and repositioning them in a effort to take the sweater size down to something I might actually wear. It is either that or the Cat Sweater from Norsk Strikk lengthened for an adult. Obviously, no emergency on either one…..

Videos

I just finished watching Season 8 of CSI which lead me to buying the first episode of Season 9. iTunes is really dangerous that way. I could also get Season 4 of Bones, sparing myself the higher expense of buying it. Since I watch everything on my laptop……

Right out of the box, they will never look this pristine again. Unblemished suede, stiff and clean laces, soles free from scuff marks.  The foot is fine, the uppers are stiff, causing me to think about where I am going and why as I climb the stairs to my office.

It is not a bad day.  I can still see trees blooming from my office window

which doesn’t stop the panic which hits me uploading a configuration file meant for another directory right on top of the one for this blog. Little file, nothing special, just directs the WordPress software to the correct database on the server. No, nothing important at all.  Blog gone. All gone. Header appears and the rest ….”poof”

I would like to be able to blame my new little Linux toy or the strange FTP interface. But lets get real, it was operator error. I am not quite used to this particular bit of software. It is not drag and drop. Have you noticed that computers execute exactly the task requested? If you happen to instruct the software to move a file from point A to folder B, it does so. If you don’t bother to check to make sure that the destination is actually folder B (pointer was right there – it was folder C): well, no wonder there are issues.

Computers don’t really do stupid things, they just enable the rest of us to screw up more quickly…….
.

that shawl

is blocked

Colors are so loud and wild that the patterning is overwhelmed.

Knit on 3.75mm needles out of some sock yarn or another (merino) it really isn’t bad. Learning point, no sense in complicated patterns on wildly colored yarn. Shawl, hat, socks – doesn’t make a difference….
So why do we keep buying the stuff?

Estonian Lace

Have you seen Nancy Bush’s latest book on Knitted Lace of Estonia? Mine came in a Knit Picks order. After picking a fairly simple pattern, pulling out some denim Kauni lace and 3.25 needles I comforted myself with rows of garter stitch before knitting the first 8 rows of pattern. I am not sure that I like nups (bobbles? no, no, I must keep telling myself that these are not bobbles. They are flat.) but the darker yarn might just cover up my learning curve.

It is taking me a while to get comfortable knitting such a fine yarn on what seems to me to be huge needles. Soft and lovely, I have two balls of yarn. Current plan is to knit the shawl for 1 1/2 balls, close up the end and proceed on to the border.

Now on to my minimum of four rows on Phoenix. This sweater is not going to take 15 months. Really.

Thank you all for leaving comments. Please (grin) keep it up at least through the 25th. I’ll put your name on list as many times as you comment before using the random number picker to grab 3-4 individuals to take those sock kits off my hands (and the roving if anyone would rather).

Today was a document reading day. There is not much I can do with my hands while reading. Ribbing is it. Ribbing I can do on auto pilot.

Makes up for ripping out the edging I had on the unknown pattern shawl and redoing it with part of the edging from Evelyn Clark’s Heartland Shawl. Admittedly, it looks kind of ratty here.

Wicked Eyelet is drying

and Phoenix earned a couple more rows this evening.

Not bad at all

(CSI Season 8 on the laptop, one more episode before I crash?)

It was just a couple of minutes too late as I rolled into the driveway to catch the red ball of the sun sinking below the tree line. The dog, of course, thought I was completely insane for not fussing over her as I blasted past heading for the office. The window leads out to a narrow ledge which opens up onto a section of flat roof. An excellent place to catch the setting sun, if one is home in time.

After an insane trip back from Heathrow airport during which I made the understandable but stupid assumption that there should not be too much traffic on the M3 before noon on Sunday I managed to get to a friend’s house only 45 minutes late. Normally I just take the A30. Regular road, small towns with stop lights and the occasional round about. Not fast, but a pretty reliable route. Not the road which had a major, five mile crawl that was the direct result of looky-loos. Yes, it is interesting to see what kind of moronic thing another driver has executed and potentially survived. But is it really worth those hundreds and hundreds of innocent people caught up in the sludge and forced to drive at no miles an hour?

I will skip the part about Wagamamas managing to lose my lunch order. They apologized and didn’t charge me so it probably was a wash.

There were only the three of us happily taking up comfortable couch knitting space at the White House Pub this afternoon.

Besides wearing the sweater – I finished the side seam and wove in all the ends on Wicked Eyelet.

Sewed the seam on the Garter.

Forgot to bring in the Alpaca striped Scarf

and dug this UFO from last summer out of a bag.

I don’t remember the pattern so decided to do an edging instead. Even more importantly that being half way done is that I am getting all my lovely stitch markers back!

(as you can see, the lighting in my living room is less than great and the flash is just too much). Now all I have to do is hope that I have enough yarn to finish off the binding. It would be a real pain to have to frog several hours worth of work….

In any case, tomorrow is Monday; a back to work day. I should only have Phoenix and Scheherazade left on the needles. It would be so nice to start something new. But maybe I should just pull out one of my UFO vests and finish it up instead?

Alton is a lovely town complete with an excellent Thai Restaurant (The River Kwai). Its origins date back to the Roman Road and certainly was at least a spot on the road during the Danish invasion (circa 1000). It was the signing location for the treaty between Henry I and Robert, Duke of Normandy (hence the name Alton Treaty in 1101).  It is also home to the Watercress Line – an old Hants railway that used to transport all the watercress grown here to market. One can still ride the old Diesel and Steam locomotives on weekends throughout the year.

After wandering through town, visiting the Curtis Musem (free) and taking a lot of pictures. we traveled a bit further down A31 to Chawton  and Jane Austin’s house. To be honest, I am not a fan of Jane Austin. She might have written characters true to her era, but I don’t like preachy and the “taking care of the poor master/children/whatever” trope leaves me cold. Nevertheless, I liked the house and the houses in the area.

What follows is a gallery of the photos from today, first from Alton and the museum followed by inside Jane Austins house and Chawton.

Knitting

The alpaca striped scarf was finished up at lunch. This evening I finished the right front on Wicked Eyelet and started sewing the sides together. That will leave me to find buttons and add an edge finishing. You will get pix of both in the morning as I don’t feel like opening up the FTP and hand typing in the URLs (maybe at the end of the gallery? We will see how much energy I have). I also need to get these all uploaded to Flickr to give some variety to my sidebar

Reading and Watching

A Deeper Blue – by John Ringo in paperback. CSI:Miami Season Three on the laptop.

This morning at work, I was finishing up projects while collecting information for a briefing I have to do in a bit under 4 weeks.

This evening, I was finishing projects. It just seemed like the right thing to do – I found I needed to extend the one arm before setting it in

and after the second was seamed and completed – I have a sweater! Now, I have at least two daughters who might well want it. It is maybe a bit more their thing than mine. But it is so nice, soft and fuzzy. Perhaps if I knit it in hot pink and purple, Ms Copper would be interested.

I made progress as well on the alcapa stripe, completing the middle section and am several rows into the second end.

Books

Night and Day by Robert B Parker. Quick read, snappy dialog.

Arches

Tuesday, while downtown Camberley on multiple errands (finding someone who could help me unscrew a filter from my camera lens, getting glasses fixed, verifying my bank balance) I happened to wander through Waterstone’s Booksellers.

Now, stopping in a bookstore is somewhat akin to taking a starving person to an all you can eat buffet. There is no sense in stopping if you are not going to be allowed to consume anything. Me in a bookstore? Only sensible way of browsing is without either bag or wallet.

In the local section were booklets on Walks in the local area. Waterside Walks in Surrey and Drive and Stroll in Surrey by David Weller and The Walks near Camberley by Bill Andrews. Most look like suitable jaunts on which to take the pup. It might even get me some exercise. Of course this assumes that I can figure out the directions on all of the hand drawn maps. Countryside Books seem to publish the nicest of the lot. Especially if you are a railroad enthusiast or are interested in Military Aviation history they have quite extensive coverage.

The pup was hacked. I have been walking to and from work with her. When I have to drive miles (like on Tues) to get the car re-reg’d,  she is stuck at home and bored.

Today the miles were not as bad. I was rewarded with four packages. Three were from my DH containing the wool I need to finish up this

Fiber Tools

This is a Wooly Board. It is a stretcher stand for blocking sweaters/vests and the like. The uprights are adjustable, there is a set of arms that go across the top and adjustable sleeve stretchers that you can see hanging down. I got it from these lovely people.

Drops Cardigan

Bags of yarn -

yielded the right color on the bottom.

took a while to wind (m*ths a few years ago).

and on to the collar with one of the bigger balls.

And yes, I like the juxtaposition of Dexter with the hacked up yarn.

As you probably remember, I am lving in the UK. A place where it was 52° outside today which made it warmer than the interior. Said interior, when it dropped to 8°C this evening caused me to turn on the electric fire along with my electric kettle.

While digging around in the beverage drawer I located a sachet (kind you not, that is what it said) of mint cocoa from Cadburrys. I have been musing over the continual shifting from metric to English and back. I do it myself, using what ever is the handiest. My outside thermometer is °F left from the previous occupant. The weather report running at the bottom of Firefox is in °C.

Anyway, back to what I think is the most exquisite mint cocoa I have ever tasted. I am used to this section listing all the components and contents on the back of the package. You know the one I mean – the one that almost turns you away in disgust at what is really in that food.

My eyes weren’t good enough at this time of night to read the fine print. All I could read was this small bit which recommended pouring the sachet into your mug and then adding water that had boiled and been allowed to cool for a moment.

How much water?

A mug’s worth.

I am not brave. I have tiny mugs which can be used for expresso, large Starbucks souvenir mugs that hold 16 oz. I pulled out my measuring cup, then added 250cc to a medium size mug. I would have taken a picture. Trouble is, I drank it all before I figure it out. I think it is on my list for the next Tescos’ run….

Knitting

Simple Knitting (a UK Knitting mag) had a supplement this month that included an Alan Dart project. It also had a knitted garter. Not much on fuzzy yarn on my leg – and still having some periwinkle left over – this

in a simple repeating pattern that ran from 12->18 stitches per row becomes this -

Now all I need is to close the ends and run some elastic along with ribbon through the eyelets and we have a garter.

Wicked Eyelet Vest

Finished the left front, seamed the side and bound off the shoulder. Started the second front. Maybe 1-2 days more?

The dog had such a hard day at work;

resting in the sun from the walk in and passed out in front of the fire this evening.

the drawing

Three separate sock kits – three separate lucky people. Unless you don’t knit socks. Instead – you could have this -

It wasn’t enough that the lovely drinks machine at MOT where I sat for around two hours was out of chocolate forcing me to make a maccachino with decaf rather than a chocochino (no, I can’t spell, what else is new? ) It wasn’t even that I had the dog jumping all over me, or that yesterday at work had been the usual Monday.

I fell off my promise of no deserts. You see, Sophia (I think I have the right twin) had made this lovely strawberry-peach crumble. I don’t need deserts and most of the time I don’t even like them. Perhaps a benefit of aging, but my liking for sweets, including chocolate, has really almost vanished.

But there was this crumble. With cream just sitting there in the pitcher.

The occasion was the monthly knit together with Brigitte (Scandinavian Knitting Designs) near Reading. It is a cross country journey to Spencer’s Wood along dark and winding country roads populated by dogs having free feed at trash bins put out early for morning pick up and disgusted locals who drive much faster than I.

I got to show off a few rows progress on Phoenix.

All of which made me not believe it this morning when I could not find my ID card. I had it in my hand coming through the gate. This morning it had vanished. The living room, bedroom and car were search and cleaned up to no avail.

I left, discouraged for work and later on to Blenheim Crescent in Ruislip to redo the vehicle registration. It pays to read the instructions. I didn’t. As a result, I didn’t have either my V5C form or proof of insurance. To add insult to injustice – HRM Customs and Tax people want 185£. Plus the 25£ it costs to get a new Keeper’s certificate to replace the one that has gone walk-about.

At least I found the fuel card so I didn’t run out of diesel or have to pay local prices out of pocket.

Knitting Stuff

I have had this wooly board for a long time, but wasn’t quite brave enough to use it. After hauling my Viking Ship Sweater in and out of the house several times in a vain attempt to get it dry (I really want to be wearing this sweater. It is not that I don’t love the Mermaid I had on today, but it wasn’t quite warm enough).

Sock Kit Drawing

Be it here by known that I am not expecting anyone to say nice things about either me or the blog. It is more that I like seeing comments (don’t we all?) and it leads me to other people’s neat projects and writings. Frankly, I am happy with a name! The more times you leave a comment, the more times your name will be on the spreadsheet for the random number generator to grab you.

And, speaking of sock kits – I found a third one. All three are from this year’s KnitPurl Club. Name yarns and cute patterns as well as a “treat” in each (card, project bag, crochet hook). See what a good person I am – I am not raiding the packages for the goodies…..

Audio Books

Book of Names by Karen Tintori and Jill Gregory. Another bargain pulled from Audiobookstand. It is a good, rapidly paced religious thriller (even if you have not a clue about Kabbalah, religious history or how you fly from London to Tel Aviv).

we are tired – just look —

Thinking about Blog-veraries I realized that I wrote my first post 11 March 2007. It is a couple days over two years ago that was. Living and working in Germany, three teens, the dog and DH around the house the worst I faced was a painful commute to Landstuhl a number of days each week.

In the two years since I have been noting primarily fiber related things with the occasional stray sideways discussion on the military and some travelogues. I have knit about a dozen sweaters/vests, over 60 pairs of socks (there is something to be said for the 52 Pair Plunge) and spun quite a few kilos of wool. I still haven’t managed to get the loom back up and warped.

We have traveled as a family to China, Egypt, the US. I cruised with a friend from Genoa to Buenos Aries. DH and I managed to get to Majorca last July and cruise around the Black Sea this past Oct for our 30th anniversary.

Relocating to the UK was not exactly in my plans, but it has been interesting and I have met some wonderful knitters.

What do you think? I have a couple of lovely sock kits (patterns plus yarn) from Knit Purl that I would be happy to have go to other people. I will run a random drawing on the 25th from those who leave comments. More than 1 comment = more than one chance. Tell your friends (ok, I know that it might cut down on your chances…) and I will attempt to have content worth reading!

The first flowers are blooming.

With the sun shining, I actually got the Viking Ship soaked,

blocked and out to dry.

Updates

In between laundry, dealing with the dog and the usual house keeping chores, I worked on almost all the WIPs.
Alpaca

Calypso

Wicked Eyelet
with the back complete and the first front started. I would be knitting both fronts at the same time but for one small detail. I have one ball of yarn. I hand wound it. To knit both fronts at the same time it would be a really good idea to wind it as a center pull. I forgot. Since I started from the outside and didn’t think about it till after I had one front cast on …..

Phoenix

At this point, I am really wiped out. Since updating WordPress to 2.7 and beyond it loads like I was on a 9600 baud dial up. Slow enough that I have managed to knit six pattern repeats on the Wicked Eyelet while waiting for the graphics loader to kick in on uploads and inserts. The thought of reinstalling everything makes me shudder. Or it could be the theme. I like it because I can do just about anything in it. But it might just be the other cause. Design what I want in a theme. In my spare time.

Right.

Spring is coming, there is a faint haze of green on the Birches near the Farnborough North Train Station. It is a different line than the one that I ordinarily take. No parking near, I met up with another knitter and we hiked to the station past interesting houses

On our way to Reading, we went a bit early so that I could see the two main yarn locations in town. There is a John Lewis of course. If you want Rowan or Debbie Bliss, you can always find it here. But much more fun is Jacksons which is one of those old fashioned stores that carries linens, uniforms, hats, gloves, household goods, foundation garments, sewing and dressmaking supplies. And it carries yarn. Not just some of the fancies, but pattern leaflets and shelfs stuffed with bag lots of yarn. Natural fibers packed in next to high quality acrylics there were some nice bargains which I resisted.

And then there is this interesting building

which houses the Town Hall, a theater, a gallery, a free museum, a nice (but slow) little café and a group of knitters/crocheters which get together on the second Sat(?). Of course, I didn’t get my camera out to grab a picture till every one was packing up.

Progress

Phoenix

Alpaca Striped Scarf

and Calypso with 3/19 repeats completed.

Video

CSI:Miami Season 1. Borrowed from the Library.

that I had planned.

The Mole and I had been trying to figure out if he was going to come straight from school this evening, or go visit his girlfriend and come home later in the weekend.

I knocked off a bit early to check on the dog and spend time on a computer that was not driving me nuts. (Remind me to tell you about the learning curve with Linux. It is a bit steeper than I had planned. It is not like I have needed my Unix in the last 40 years and the command line is not DOS. ) but anyway.

The young man notifies me about 1630 that there is a slight problem. One of the other students wasn’t feeling well and had borrowed money from mine to take the train home a couple of days early. Since he had not made it back to school, mine wasn’t paid back. So he had no money to take the train home.

This is a good kid, my son, and was trying to help out a friend.

Do you have any idea of the traffic on the M25 on Friday afternoon? Shall we say that it is unpleasant? Or that the road is filled with idiots who don’t yield, share their lanes or have a clue as to why they should not be driving 40 mph in the far right lane. Obstructing traffic is a right!

It took a couple of hours to get the 90 miles or so to his school. Since only about 5 km (my car is German. The speedometer, the odometer and the trip recorder are all sensibly in metric) is off the Motorway at the far end. Gives you a bit of an idea of exactly how frustrating was the drive.

Most of my knitting time was gone (two hours there, 90 minutes back and a hassle with a bus trying to be in the same place as my car at the pick up location).

But he was rescued, we made Pad Thai for dinner and then there were a couple of presents from the Eldest. Dragging a birthday out for a few more days when it includes more presents really isn’t a bad thing at all….

This week I will send him with tickets so that I don’t have to worry about him getting back. There was a positive benefit to me making the drive: I spared him hauling a bag with snacks, soups, shampoo and ramen back to school.

Knitting

The scarf on square needles made a bit of progress.

Rewarding myself for finishing the Viking Ship Sweater, I might have gone a bit out of control this month. It seemed reasonable that I should start all sorts of new projects.

The Phoenix Cardigan makes sense – after all, I need to have something fairly challenging in color work on the needles. (And all of the Tree vests are completed at the moment).

And the Eldest needed her wedding shawl in a more appropriate color.

(you have seen it)

Neither of those projects are very portable.

And it is March, featuring March Sweater Madness (year 3)

(I am out of yarn and waiting for the rest)

and the WIcked Eyelet Vest KAL.

Could I help it if the pair of Kollage square needles picked up at I-knit London needed testing? It just didn’t make any sense at all to switch needles in the middle of a project, so starting a simple scarf seemed just the right thing.

Oh, and did I mention this lovely kit from Signature NeedleArts?

So a bit of progress was made on several things. I like having choices depending on whether or not I need to do something else at the time, want to watch a DvD while knitting or have the desire to concentrate absolutely on a project and shut out the world.

I am not going to be true to just one (or one home and one portable project) for the rest of the month without guilt and see how it goes. My only rule is that no new (non-stash) yarn can be involved.

Sometime it is really great to get to work and find treasures on the cabinet outside your door. Apparently someone else made a mail run and was kind enough to get my stuff two. There was a box from AudioBookStand with two new audio books (Dark of the Night – Suzanne Brockmann and Fireside – Susan Wiggs) in that nice, convienient MP3 format. It doesn’t help for traveling, but it certainly makes loading onto my computer and iPod worlds faster.

And then there was the package from Kaleidoscope Yarns. There was this lovely messenger like project bag.

along with various makers (Off Hand Design, Lantern Moon and Susan Todd) of needle holder bags on sale.

and a bamboo circular needle set that has true US 6 size needle (4.25mm) so I now have the full range of needles with which to face any pattern written in any decade.

aren’t they pretty? and in such a nice holder.

Wicked Eyelet Vest

Since I ran out of my other yarn – I went back and did a few more repeats here -

meaning I just have to start the shoulder shaping. I don’t really care for the arm hole finishing, so I will probably I-cord it at the end to give a more finished look. Not through the first ball yet and I have two more, so at least I will be fine for amount on yarn on this vest.

So I spent the evening sorting needles into cases and tucking those back into my lovely messenger bag while being completely disgusted with the vids I attempted to watch.

Went into London on the train, had a meeting in the morning.

I took my time wandering home, stopping at I-Knit. It is a nice little shop and they had Kollage square needles. The price wound up being the same (with the currency change) as if I had paid to have them shipped. One pair of circs (3.5mm) came home with me and I am going to give them a try. They don’t make 2.5s or 3.0s – the sizes which I use the most.

Drops Cardigan

It was time to knit the sleeves on my cardigan. I discovered that the width recommended by the pattern was not quite wide enough, so I increased it by 10 stitches so that the arms would be comfortable. If you look closely at the picture, you will see the body in the middle, the sleeve on one side on hold ready to be bound into the arm hole. The second sleeve is a few inches short and….. I was out of yarn. Not the mohair, I still have a bit of that, but the wool. There is more at the house in Germany sitting on the window ledge to be mailed to me.

Oops, I should have packed a bit more into the suitcase. There was room, I just didn’t think I was going to need it.

Video

Finished up Season 1 of The Closer. Ok, but not fabulous. I don’t have Season 2, so I tried watching a bit of Season 3. Nope, not going in a direction that I appreciate. Perhaps the obnoxiousness of characters and lousy acting isn’t so apparent when you see something only once a week vs. seeing multiple episodes in a row?

There I was, minding my own business – I have the yarn – both the Brunswick

and a ball of it and the mohair wound together.

I get to the split for the armholes, work up the back

and then both sides. After binding off the shoulders,

I realize that I am over halfway done with the sweater. Just sleeves and the collar to go.

Wicked Eyelet Vest

Continuing with the short attention span theme here (Phoenix and Scheherazade on hold for a couple of days)

I forgot to show you the yarn

and here is where I am on the vest

the best thing about both is that they are completely stash mining projects!

Audio

I have listened my way through the three Yasmine Galenorn books (Witchling, Changeling, and Darkling). This is another case where I think they are better in audio than in hard copy. Even with the helpful filler material, the second and third are not stand-a-lone and need to be read/heard in order. I pulled them from iTunes, they are also available from Audiobookstand….

The eldest is making baby quilts it seems for everyone in the world. Since she is now facing doing five for boys many of her fabric choices weren’t great for traditional color matches. I made the early morning foray into the attic.

In a couple of bins marked “F” for fabric – not “Y” for yarn – I located yards of what are likely to be useful choices. Cars, trucks, fish, socks, elephants abound on these fabrics. There might be enough for more than the five outstanding. While I was at it, I pulled out a couple of bins of semi-solids. She should have enough red for borders for months.

Then I went looking for my bin of Brunswick Impressions. I bought most of it somewhere around 1995, knit four or so sweaters, then relegated the rest to the stash. M*ths had found this bin, but I managed to save almost all of the skeins. They apparently don’t like mohair – preferring singles, pure wool that is not super wash. Go figure.

I also found Turtles that I knit for Noah. Problem was that it was too small by the time I had it finished. Perhaps the next generation?

a couple more rows on Phoenix

and it was time to be dropped off at the train station. Security is what it is at Frankfurt. If you are flying to the UK, you are privileged to do it twice. Both times I got stopped. Needles and wool? No, in fact the second time the guy said – please, you don’t need to take out your knitting….. but I had a pocket torch (flashlight) that apparently showed up solid enough to trigger off concern.

Should I mention that our flight was delayed leaving? That we got to circle London? Over hill and dale,

river

and stadium

till we were finally allowed to land.

Time zones are nice coming this way. I managed the connections well enough not to have to wait more than a couple of minutes anywhere along the time. Really important when you acknowledge that it is cold, raining and the trains run only once an hour from Ascot.

Drops Cardigan

This will be my third March participating in the March Sweater Madness group started by TheSweetSheep. I think there are two of us committed (!) to playing this year.

We go with free patterns – Barb picked one pattern, I the other (who is the third? has she declared herself).

I went with Hawaii color out of the above mentioned Brunswick. It is shades of blue, dark water blues. One strand of mohair and one strand of the wool combined on 8.00 mm needles.

with double moss as the front border. In case you hadn’t guessed – I am doing the body in one piece, just easier on this pattern. Sewing in anything with mohair is not my idea of a good time.

Wicked Eyelet Vest

Video

Starting the series – The Closer.

and back to work in the morning.

Weinheim is this lovely little town (43K – is that little?) not all that far from Heidelberg. It has this lovely, open, airy library that even has a place where you can sit, chat, knit and have a cup of coffee/juice.

Seems like this was not the greatest day to propose a get together, there were just the two of us (and since I had the camera, I got to avoid my photo being taken).

I joined the “Wicked Eyelet Vest” KAL on Ravelry. Taking yarn out of the stash – Brunswick Impressions Wool that had aged at least 13 years (and wasn’t m*th bit) I started working my way up the back ribbing. It seemed to be too much trouble to convert the pattern to one piece (from three).

We took Ms Mausie camera shopping for her birthday (it was what she really wanted as a present) and then it was back to a few more rows on Phoenix

and tomorrow my brief sojourn at home ends and it is back to the UK.

Ms Mausie, who you have seen variously referred to as Ms Pink and Ms Copper, turned sixteen today. She is the youngest of our three Saturday girls. She has always been Ms Sunshine, quick to smile and reach out to others. She has lots of casual friends; selective about true friends, they are hers for life.

She can manage to have a good time just about anywhere in the world -

and the one who probably matches me for liking travel by water.

She is bright and extremely verbal. She is capable, competent and a bit shyer than most people recognize. She can handle math and science, but excels in languages (German, English, French and Spanish) which is why she is back in school in Germany as the school here didn’t offer all of her languages. I miss her and felt lucky that teaching requirements had me home today.

Since her birthday fell on the weekend, those of us who were in Germany were able to have dinner and desert. But before we get to the desert, the Eldest had found the perfect present for the chocohaulic.

She first met chocolate fountains at a wedding and fell in love with the idea. This also meant that she wanted chocolate for cake. The smaller one having come from Basel and the cheesecake baked by her sister.

She is doing well in school, but I don’t get to see her nearly enough. It is hard to let go, especially with one’s youngest. She starts Oberstüfe next year which means she will finish in 2011. Her life plans are open, and the world is before her.

It was a Tuesday evening eighteen years ago when our son agreed to make his appearance. Checking in at 7# 13 oz, I was appalled at his size. After all, both of his older sisters were around 6# 10, a much more reasonable size for a pregnant woman with an aching back.

A great kid while growing up (even given that he knew exactly how to push his sisters’ buttons) I certainly wasn’t ready for him to turn into The Mole as a teenager. He had been the protector, the undemanding one of the four. Looking back, I think we really hit the middle child syndrome with me. That child who is good, cooperative and as a result doesn’t always get their fair share of attention.

He might have been the one who missed me the most on my various deployments. All I can tell for certain is that he turned into a typical teenager – the kind who is exhausted when he can’t sleep till noon on the weekends, one who knows and understands computers and can program a VCR. His hair is now shaggy and his legs are long. He towers over me.

In fall of 2006, he decided to try boarding school. I found I missed him probably more than he missed us as parents. He is bright, can be extremely articulate although he has not needed those skills as much with three sisters always ready with an opinion and very math/science oriented. The one child who is likely to follow my path into medicine.

He is off again this year at boarding school down in Kent; headed for A level exams in a number of subjects. I see him on weekends. Perhaps I should be happier that he is so obviously a capable and competent young adult, functioning independently. But I miss my young son, the one who (unfortunately for him) might be the most like me in some personality traits. The one who spent his birthday at school because it fell during the week. The one who got his presents early, leaving the day itself a bit on the downside. His smile is great, he cares about others, he knows what he wants to do with his life.

It is hard as an parent to pull back, to let your offspring decide their own fate. I certainly am proud of him and the adult he is becoming. I would love him just as much in any case.

Emptying out my suitcase this morning, I found my uniform and beret. No t-shirts, thought I had them on a shelf here in Germany. Not true as it turns out; they all migrated to the UK over the last year. Except for one old and tattered hiding behind all my SciFi Convention t-shirts.

Now for boots. I own three pairs of desert type boots, all getting kind of old and worn down. Two pairs date from my time (2003-2004) in the desert and I do have some attachment to them. The third pair are Norwegian Army boots that I was given in 1998. More than 10 years ago, I only started wearing them in the last couple of years. Dating of course from the US Army changing to the ACU (Army Combat Uniform), transitioning to desert boots from the black combat boot.

It hasn’t been bad, polishing boots was never my thing. There are draw backs; the desert boots were designed for the desert. Seems obvious, right|? Now think about Germany and the UK. It can rain. A lot. Suede does not do well with water. If you spray you boots to seal them, they don’t let your feet breathe in hot environs. Not well insulated, your feet can get quite cold in the winter even ignoring the issues with snow. I do have options. I could spend the money on new boots.

Did I mention that the Army and Air Force don’ t have the same boots? That means a run through the clothing sales store while I am back here in Germany. Lots of money that I would rather spend on, oh lets say …..yarn, audio books, downloads from iTunes, books.

But they do look a bit worn, sad, ready to be retired.

After all these months of driving on the left, it is a bit scary to be on the road in Germany again.

The disorientation started at the airport. People walk on the right, not the left. You have to look right when dashing across the road to the distance train station only to find that your train connection leaves from Track 1 in the underground station.

Getting behind the wheel, clutching it with white knuckles I realized that I had become fully acclimatized to driving in the UK. I wanted to stay on the left. Main roads are not an issue, they are marked fairly clearly, but the smaller side roads where there is room only for a car and a half…. something else.

At least I didn’t go try to turn the wrong way around a traffic circle…..

Perhaps in your mind a sweater is not finished until it is blocked. That is usually my opinion as well. However, as I sewed in the last stray end after finishing the ribbing

Normally I would wait until after it is blocked before I called it complete. However, I have this jaunt to Germany tomorrow and I am going to wear it. Blocking will come later. It will happen since the bottom hem has to be pounded into submission. I should have made the facing a bit longer. oh, well….

The youngest two have birthdays this week. They have MACs. I was thinking about laptop cases. Knit it and felt, right?

I got to here

from here.

In case you were wondering – I cast on the right number of stitches for the width, knit in the front and back of each stitch on the return effectively doubling the number of stitches on the initial needle. From there, i took both ends of a long circular needle and transferred the stitches separating the front and the back. From there it was Magic Loop.

Viking Ship Sweater

I think the end is in sight. I finished up the facing

and now just have to bind it off around all those edges. I have started at the right front bottom edge and take one of the inside stitches that has been sitting there on hold and knit it together with a stitch from the front. Effectively, this closes the binding, sealing in the edge.

Audio

I don’t use Audible. Not that I really have much against them, but the software insists on taking me to the German language site. I don’t want to go there, it is a much more expensive than pulling books from the US site. So I use iTunes. Buried down toward the bottom of their Audiobooks page – the US site normally has a bargain section with “whatever” priced under 10$. I have picked up quite a few oldie but goodies this way including a lovely Asimov this week.

Moving on to Lord of the Rings (iTunes bargains).

Oh, all that military related paperwork? I have the flipping support form completed and am working my way down the pile.