Monday, September 13, 2010

stateside again

Sorry for the blog silence, but Paul and I were off on holiday in France!  We spent a week in the Loire valley, sipping wine, visiting chateaux, and spending time with family, then a few days in Paris seeing the sights!  Having a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast today was a real downer after so many lovely mornings of pain au chocolat. :-)  Better for the waistline, though.
Here's Paul rockin' the plaid at the Arc de Triomphe. I got to trot out my terrible French, and it did actually improve (hey, I took 8 weeks of French 7 years ago, and I can struggle through journal articles, so I didn't expect too much from myself).
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There's a pretty major backlog of knitting projects to photograph, blog, and ravel.  Here's the first of many --  Hemlock Ring, from my mini KAL with Barefoot Rooster
Kylie looks a little surprised at the woolly beast next to her.  This was a joy to knit despite the hot weather this summer, and the end result is so snuggly.  I can't wait to curl up under it with a mug of hot apple cider and a good book.

Pattern: Hemlock Ring, by Jared Flood
Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool, 2.3 skeins, natural
Needles: US 10.5 circs (magic loop at first)

Notes:
I knit the larger size, and it's nice and cozy, perfect for fully covering your lap. Really quite fun and surprisingly quick to knit.  Next time I'd switch to a larger cable for the last third of the blanket, as it was kind of crunched up on my needles. As usual, the Eco Wool softened up after a good soak in Eucalan. I blocked it lightly, not overdoing it with the pins.

Yikes, I can't believe it's mid-September already.  So much to do! Remind me not to go on long trips at this time of year again.

16 comments:

barefootrooster said...

welcome home! (i will work on making a KAL selection soon, promise.) your hemlock ring looks amazing, as do these photos of your french adventures! (can we see more?!)

Caffeine Girl said...

What a glorious trip! Your pictures are enticing! I can see how Cheerios would fall short.

The Hemlock Ring does not look easy -- but it is certainly beautiful.

Chris said...

Glad you had a great time!!

I think Kylie's contemplating how much contrasting cat hair she can apply to the shawl...

Anonymous said...

What a fantastic trip! I'd love to go to France. Also, the blanket looks lovely!

Hilary said...

Oh, how fun!! Sounds like a fabulous trip! After learning Latin, I always had a really inflated sense of my ability to speak Romance languages. Throwing in random Latin phrases, sadly, did not help me much in France (luckily, what I remembered from high school, which was pretty much limited to "Ou est la gare?" and "Un pain au chocolat, s'il vous plait," did come in very handy). However, as I'm sure you know, there is tons of Latin-sounding stuff in Italian. I was thrilled to find that, in an emergency taxi situation, shouting out "Sinistra! Sinistra!" actually made sense to the driver!

elizabeth said...

So jealous! I want to hear more about Paris! What arrondissement did you stay in? What was your favorite museum? Wasn't it wonderful?!?!

Kty said...

Mais nous avons des Cheerios en France aussi !

Glad you enjoyed your stay. And, funny, I thought about you this morning because my 11 year old son starts learning latin as a third language this year (after german and english).

Katie M. said...

Welcome back! What a nice end to the summer ... and blanket! It's so pretty and cozy and perfect for fall!

Caroline said...

Sorry I can't discourage you from taking any trips, much less a wonderful trip like it sounds like you just did, ha, ha. I do imagine those Cheerios were quite a let-down

Keya said...

The hemlock ring is totally inspiring! You make me want to drop all of my other thousand knitting projects and get started on it right now!

Mia said...

Welcome home!!! I hope you weren't affected by the strikes in France while you were there. And French is fun. I sometimes prefer French to Spanish.

And wonder how long until the girls decide the blanket is their blanket? And I have apple cider to heat up tonight. But I will be under a shawl.

And I think I know the next blanket you should knit. How do you feel about purples?

Kristi aka Fiber Fool said...

Welcome back! It sounds like a lovely trip. The Hemlock Ring looks beautiful! I really need to knit an afghan of some type for our house that matches. We have two lovely crocheted afghans from two people in DH's family, but not in colors that ever see the public eye.

nicole said...

oooh, chanceuse! Paris.....

Rachael said...

OH so lovely, we spent our honeymoon in paris, such a romantic city! I'm glad you had a great time!

Carrie#K said...

Lucky girl, vacationing in Paris AND
your fabulous Hemlock Ring finished. Gorgeous and useful, who could ask for more?

Gigi said...

Well, you brat! How thoughtless of you to jet off to Paris without (at least) asking if we'd like to come along ;). I'm so jealous (can you tell?). Actually, I'm working on talking the DH into going to Paris for my birthday in January -- wish me luck.
Beautiful Hemlock -- looks so soft and cosy!
Happy Fall to you!
G