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)

my Ravelry project page

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.

hemlock amoeba?

Hemlock Ring is looking more like an amoeba now, or perhaps a jellyfish.  Thanks to yet another heat wave, I've been holing up in the downstairs rec room (AKA the man cave) and knitting while drinking endless glasses of iced tea.

I used the magic loop technique with a 40" cable rather than DPNs to start, which worked great. At some point it just slid out of magic loop and I switched to regular knitting in the round.  At this point I'd love to switch to a longer cable, but apparently I don't own one!  Something to add to the next Knit Picks order.  I'm using stitch markers between each feather-and-fan repeat, which is super helpful now that there are a bazillion stitches on the needle.

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The postman delivered one last round of yarn for the stripy crochet blanket.  I refuse to buy any more yarn for this project, and I don't want to calculate how many skeins have already gone into this thing.  I do love the ice cream colors, though, and it's absolutely addicting to make.  With any luck it will fit our queen size bed! 

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I caved and bought a double-walled iced coffee travel cup from Starbucks, and it has turned out to be a great purchase! I usually just fill it with homemade iced coffee and tea; it's even perfect for toting around the house because condensation doesn't build up on the outside.

socratic

Hemlock Ring in progress.  I learned Emily Ocker's circular cast-on via this tutorial yesterday morning, and it's very neat!  The blanket's speeding along so far, thanks to a fresh crop of Miss Marple episodes on the DVR.  

Julia McKenzie is quite good, isn't she?  Not too namby-pamby.  The production values on the last two seasons of Miss Marple and Poirot on Mystery have been such an improvement -- striking camera angles, great sets, colors that pop.  Very visual in a way that the old ones simply weren't.

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I've been racing through books lately.  I just don't feel like myself when I don't make some time to read novels.  There's something valuable about reading fiction that helps me approach problems from different angles and consider other points of view.  Two highlights:

The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters
Post WWII, a country doctor befriends the Ayres family at Hundreds Hall.  Landed gentry, the Ayres are struggling to keep up a crumbling old pile, and the financial and emotional strains, as well as their increasing isolation from the social circle in which they once flew, are getting to them.  Waters reinvents the Gothic novel, pitting logic and science against emotion.  The real thing to watch here is the narrator, though.  Unlike Waters' other novels, the plot is very linear, building slowly.

Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese
Born from an illicit union between a nun and a brilliant but emotionally stunted surgeon, twins Marion and Shiva Stone grow up in a cross-cultural household in Ethiopia, raised by doctors at Missing Hospital.  This compelling story about family, love, and betrayal is set in a tumultuous time in African history, and the setting really shapes the book.  It may sound a little melodramatic, but it's a great read.

Pimm's progress

There's nothing like a nice crisp Pimm's & ginger ale on a breezy, sunny summer day.
Yesterday I rewarded myself with a cocktail and some knitting time after a long couple of days (tons of regular things on the to-do list, plus cat-sitting for a friend, plus two separate plumber visits + one appliance service call).
Mum's Shalom is speeding along. I must say that this is a very quick and easy knit so far! With any luck the body will be bound off by the end of today.

I'm loosely following moxymomma's modifications for 38," as well as SouleMama's sleeve modifications:

• CO 77 sts
  
• 3 buttonhole rows -- 6, 22, 38
• slipped the arm sts to waste yarn instead of BO
• CO 10 sts at each armhole
• no waist shaping
  

I did a one-stitch buttonhole, as the two-stitch buttonhole seemed a bit too large. Next time I'd slip the first stitch of each row (for a cleaner edge).

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The kittehs, basking in the morning sun:

revisiting

I'll make up for yesterday's brief, drive-by post with a bit more substance today.

1) Francis Revisited ~ off the needles, onto me

Pattern: Francis Revisited, by Beth Silverstein (free!)
Yarn: Cascade EcoWool, "Latte," 2 skeins
Needles: US 9 and 6 bamboo circs

Notes: Super easy and unbelievably quick to knit. I actually used less yarn than the pattern recommended -- 2 skeins for a custom size somewhere between xl and xxl. I did not make it as long as the pattern said, and it actually might have been nice to do another inch or two on the body. The bell sleeves are cute and comfy in real life, but don't photograph terribly well.

The cowl is written the same way for the whole gamut of sizes; if you knit a larger sweater, you may want to add a few more rows and a few more extra stitches. It would be great to use a yarn with a little alpaca or silk for more drape, but it's hard to beat Eco Wool for affordability. The yarn really softened up when washed and blocked; it's no merino, but it's good stuff nonetheless.

2) cable owls ~ still love 'em, this time in squishy "squirrel heather" merino...

Pattern: Owl Tuque, by Barbara Prime
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Bulky, "squirrel heather," 1/2 skein
Needles: US 7 & 8 16" bamboo circs + US 7 Brittany Birch DPNs
Size: 6 months

Notes: Amazingly cute and exceedingly fun to knit. I gave this to a fellow knitter's little guy on Sunday, and it fit great. I love that Barbara Prime worked seed stitch into the hat. Switching to larger needles for the owl section is a very clever move, especially since those cables really do pull in.

This isn't a free pattern -- it's a $2.75 download on Ravelry -- but it's worth every penny. $2 from each pattern sale goes to the Montreal Ecomuseum.

3) Stephen Fry in America
Awesome! I loved Stephen Fry in Jeeves & Wooster and Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (plus he was the only palatable part of V for Vendetta); this 6-part TV series wherein he visits all 50 states does not disappoint. Originally aired in 2008, it's being shown again on HDnet. Two things especially noteworthy: 1) winters in the upper Midwest are apparently a bit too chilly for this Briton, and 2) he actually goes ice-fishing in Minnesota.

4) One Fast Move or I'm Gone
Ben Gibbard & Jay Farrar teamed up to write songs inspired by Jack Kerouac's Big Sur for a new documentary. A little bit of Son Volt-style alt country, Gibbard's wonderful voice, inspiration from Kerouac, what more could you want? Especially if you went through a teenage Beat poetry phase, as I did. You can stream the new album here, from the sidebar of this review. More info here.

Gibbard and Farrar are playing a show at the new Lincoln Hall on Oct. 26. I'm so there! Apparently the makeshift band for this limited tour includes members of Son Volt, Death Cab, and Mountain Goats.