A few projects on and off the needles

One nice thing about a long holiday break (which has been over for a while now, but still), coupled with no longer being chair of my department (the email load dropped off almost instantaneously with me handing the chairship over in the fall - I can't tell you what a relief that was), is that I finally had time to get excited about knitting again.

It's not that I haven't been knitting all along - last fall, in fact, I knitted a sweater for each my girls, and then one for my niece for Christmas.  It's more that I wasn't engaged in the joy and fun of thinking about new projects, weighing the options, looking at yarn; and I definitely wasn't anywhere close to thinking about playing around with designing anything.  One thing I know about myself is that I absolutely loathe last-minute pressure; I hate being late.  So, as chair, I realized pretty quickly that the only way to be ready for the inevitable late-notice, oh-my-gosh-oops-we-forgot-to-tell-you-this-is-due-tomorrow stuff, was to be veryvery on top of everything else, so that I'd have room for the last-minute things when they arrived on my plate.  I got into the habit of keeping an ongoing list of big-ticket items (the kinds of things that I know I need some serious time to get through: curriculum, meeting agendas, personnel reviews, etc etc), and the smaller things that I could knock off in five minutes here, ten minutes there (email, email, email).  Which meant that any time I had five or ten minutes, I was trying to get through those things so that I'd have longer chunks of time for the bigger stuff, and at the end of a day of getting through all of that, I really just wanted to read something mindless or knit something mindless or go to bed.  The nice thing about that strategy is that I did get enough sleep every night (no last-minute all-nighters to get something done), and I did get to walk my dog on a trail almost every day, and I had dinner with my family, and I spent time with my horse.  So, it wasn't the worst survival strategy in the world.

But what I almost never had was several unscheduled hours with nothing planned, and no to-do list that I felt strongly about getting to (to avoid emergencies later down the road).  And another thing that I seem to be learning about myself is that I need that kind of time - that kind of I could almost be bored here so what could I do that's interesting kind of time - to feel that there's enough space to poke at a new and exciting project, or a new craft, or a new instrument.  I'll also admit that things like Facebook, the New York Times crossword puzzle, solitaire, and Instagram all make it really easy to fritter away the smaller chunks of time that could become bigger pieces for sinking (in the sense of slipping into a lovely warm bath) into the creative.  As I write this, it occurs to me that I need to use time the way I did as chair - except, instead of getting the little work done in small chunks of time so I could create big chunks of time for the hard projects, I need to stop spending my small chunks of free time on little relaxingish things, so that I can create for myself the space, and spaciousness, to settle into a creating place.  Something to mull over.

The fall didn't really give me room for that - the chair transition and a few other things got in the way. But knowing that I had a sabbatical this spring, once I finished teaching an online intersession class (my first fully online class, and one of the "other things" whose preparation was on my mind during the fall), I was able to take a few weeks to not-work, and to start to get my legs back under me.

I knitted cowls for me and the girls:

That's me and Older Daughter; Younger Daughter has one, too.  These are all knitted out of Baah Sequoia, a super-chunky and super-soft and lofty yarn dyed by a friend and local dyer.  I have discovered recently the pleasure of cowls, in that they never fall off, and you don't have to deal with ends flying about or not staying put.  Of course, there is also great pleasure in a lovely neck-warming small shawl, so I knitted one of those, too (and used it, in progress, as a header shot for an article that was just published on knitting and food in socialization).

The yarn for this is a lovely little skein I picked up from the Yarnover Truck during the Vista Fiber Festival.

I don't have any pictures of me wearing it yet; I'll have to get some.  I'm surprised I've managed to hang on to this one - a lot of people have threatened to steal it.  The yarn is Apple Tree Knits Plush Gradient, and the pattern is Imagine When.

I also (finally) finished Rick's winter socks:

These are just a plain pair of socks, knitted out of Candy Skein Delicious Fingering, in the Sour Apple colorway.  My only complaint about this particular skein of this yarn (which I've used before and love) is that it stained my fingers blue-green every time I worked on these socks.  They are therefore due a good soaking before Rick actually wears them out and about, lest they turn his feet and shoes irreparably green.

One funny thing about these is the heel, which I knitted in my usual eye-of-partridge stitch.  (I knit these from the toe up, with a heel flap on the bottom of the foot.)  On one sock, the eye-of-partridge turned out beautifully visible.  On the other, not.  I can't figure out what the difference is between the two - same needles, same stitch, same everything, different outcome.  It's weird.

And for my birthday, I treated myself to a sweater that I've been admiring: Evelyn.  This was a fun and easy knit, and the yarn is soft and plush; I'm a bit worried that it's looking a titch fuzzy already, so we'll see whether this turns out to be something I can wear constantly (which I'd hoped - it's good-looking AND cuddly, which is a winning combination, in my book), or whether I need to be more careful of it. 

This was a fun knit, for the most part.  The cable up there at the top of the back felt a bit fussy (mostly because that much cabling in that small of a space tends to lead to tight stitches when I knit), but boy does it look nice:

The sleeves are more of the same, but narrower...

As is the button band.  (A snap will eventually go in there at the top.)

The only part of this whole sweater that kind of annoys me is the collar, which would not lie flat for love or money.

I have since tacked it down.  (That'll teach it to be contrary.)

There are a few other small things I could post, but I think I'll save them for another day.  I'm wrapping one of them up today (I hope), and, if all goes well, the yarn for my next sweater will arrive in the mail.  (Arrive, yarn, dang it!)  If not, Younger Daughter has mentioned that she'd like another hat, so perhaps that'll go OTN instead.

And that's all the knitting news that's fit to report.  What are you all working on?

Trying new things

I want to thank everyone who has commented on my two recent non-knitting screeds - I truly appreciate how thoughtful each post was, and how much I know many of you are thinking about this issue.  I also want to thank everyone who is being so patient with the total lack of knitting content.  It's not because I'm not knitting!

I am, though (I must confess), knitting less than I usually do.  There are several reasons for this, all of which have to do with trying new things.  I have never been someone who believes that you can't teach an old dog new tricks - in fact, I think that learning new things, maintaining that childlike enthusiasm and wonder for the world, is one of humanity's most important traits, when humanity can hang on to it.  And really, doesn't it make life more interesting?

Of course, I really should do a better job of rationing my new things so that they don't happen all at once, across multiple areas of my life.  I've been trying some new behaviors on a personal level, ones which feel more coherent with the person I am, and while I won't go into details here, I think I'm not alone in finding that sort of thing extremely difficult, and in finding that it doesn't always go smoothly.

I've also been trying some new pedagogical techniques.  One of the hot new teaching tropes these days is "flipping the classroom" (go ahead, Google it, I'll still be here when you get back).  For better or worse, everyone's talking about it.  So I've been paying attention, and have attended a few Faculty Center seminars on it, and I think that there are some techniques from this movement that I can use in the classroom, especially in the area of developing group work which pushes students into interesting new areas.  On the other hand, I have to admit that my very first question when I heard about the concept of flipping a classroom (to take the "lecture/information acquisition" part of learning out of the classroom, so that students can do more interesting and higher-level analytical and applied work in the classroom, facilitated by the professor) was, "Isn't that what a seminar is supposed to do?"  You know, you have the students read something outside of class, gain a basic understanding of that something, and then come to class prepared to do something more analytic and challenging in class.

Except that begs the next question: what do you do when they don't do the bloody reading before class? (!!)  So I'm trying some new things, including creating short little introductions on YouTube to each of the course readings, to move that out of class and give us more time in class for the stuff I love the most - the hard analytical and applied work.  Of course, that requires me to create one of those little videos for each of the class readings.  Doh.

So that's work and emotional lives.  What else could I add?  Well, inspired by my sister-in-law, I have been working to increase both my distance and speed when I walk.  I managed nearly nine miles at under 13-min/mile on Sunday, so that's coming along.  But even better is this:

That's Older Daughter, finding her focal point.  I think I mentioned a few posts ago that the girls and I are taking horseback riding lessons every week, and we are loving it.  We've all three agreed that it's just about the best two hours of our week.  Last week, we spent the whole drive home giddily saying, "We trotted!  We trotted!"  (Until Younger Daughter pointed out that, actually, it was the horse that trotted; we posted.)(Pedant.)

So with all of that new, my knitting has not been of the challenging sort.  I finished and blocked the Shattered Sun Shawl.  I think it turned out fairly well (bad photo notwithstanding).  This was a nice knit.  The pattern was clear, not difficult, and the results are lovely.  I used Jade Sapphire Silk/Cashmere, and it took just a titch less than one skein (whew!).

 That isn't the best color representation - below is closer (it's a kelly sort of green):

I also finally cast on for a sweater that I've been wanting to knit since seeing it in the Fall KnitWear.  It's Katya Frankel's Gathered Blouse.

I am taking a bit of a chance and knitting it in cotton, rather than in the wool blend of the sample in the photo.  It is possible that the weight of the cotton will change the drape of the neck enough that I don't like it, but I also need more cotton sweaters, and I'm risking it.  I have split for the sleeves, and I think that what I need to do is to not knit it for a night, and to (dorkily) wear it around the house to see what happens when the weight of the cotton pulls down on the sweater.  We'll see. 

I'm knitting it out of Cascade Ultra Pima, which I had in stash (I have been trying to be better about using stash yarns), in the 35 3/4 inch size.  There are a number of clever things that I like in this pattern, including the use of short rows to raise the back of the neck, and the pleats along the sleeves and front, but I am finding that some of the numbers aren't right in this size of the pattern.  When I am done, I will try to put those together on my Ravelry page for this project.  (Again the color isn't too close above...it's more of a seafoam green, which I very much like.)

So, that's it.  A whole lot of new, and some old.  I'm also revisiting projects that are languishing OTN, with an eye to working my way through them one by one.  More on that next time.

Plugging away

So, I did finish that sweater I was talking about last time.  And it's too big, I think.  So, since it's linen, I washed it two or three times.  Then I washed it on hot (gasp away - but it's linen, so I can do that!).  And I dried it every single time.  It's still on the big side, but I've decided to think of it as a sweat-shirty sort of sweater, and am calling myself OK with it.  It doesn't help that it's been WAY too hot and humid around here to be wearing any kind of sweater, even for taking photos.  But I finally put it on quickly and made Older Daughter take a few pictures, just so I could prove that it is, indeed, done.  So today's post is about that, and the gardening project I've been working on, and the new-ish things on my needles.

First, the sweater.

See what I mean?  It's too big.  

But it is comfortable.  And the linen is softening up (as linen does) more and more with each wash.  I think that once I can wear it, it will soften up even more.  And I do love the color - it's a very cheerful lime green.  In fact, it is exactly the kind of sweater that should work for what I envisioned it for - something to throw on, once the sun goes down and it cools off.  Which is usually what happens, either because the marine layer blows in from the ocean, or because it's so dry that as soon as there's no solar gain to keep the air warm, the temperature drops by twenty degrees.  But that's not what's been happening around here lately.  No.  Instead, we're getting monsoonal weather, from the Sea of Cortez.  And it's muggy.  The only benefit to this that I can see is that it is now not cold after dark.  This caught me utterly by surprise the other night - I was sitting on the front patio, knitting, and wondering why it seemed so strange to be sitting and knitting outside after dark, and I realized - it was because I wasn't cold.  That said, I hate humidity, and I'd rather need to wear this sweater after dark to stay warm.

I managed to find exactly the right buttons in Grandmom's button box, too.  That made me very happy.  So, all in all, too big or not, I think this will be worn.  Just a quick reprise:  this is Anne Hanson's India Print Henley, from Ann Budd's new top-down sweater book.  I knitted it out of Fibranatura Flax, seven skeins, and just barely made it.  I love the pattern - it's a lot of fun, and because it is knitted from the top down, there is absolutely not a single itty-bitty bit of seaming to be done.  Happy day!

I spent the better part of the morning working on another kind of project altogether.  I should say at the outset that gardening is not one of my strong suits.  I love fresh produce, and I adore cooking with fresh herbs, but if living things can't jump up and down and demand to be fed, I tend to forget about them.  (This means that pets and kids do just fine in my house - plants, not so much.)

(In fact, by way of quick proof, look at how well the chickens are growing!)(That is not their coop; it is their mobile chicken run, which allows them to be out in various parts of the yard during the day without us worrying about cats/hawks/dogs getting to them.  Once they are fully-grown, they may not need it, but they are not, and they do.)

I have a garden bed that I dug out of the gravel parking pad the previous owners of the house had laid (cutting down two producing peach trees, if you can believe), but it's down the driveway, and easy for me to forget about, and given my aforementioned issue with keeping plants alive, and plants' demonstrated inability to make loud noises to attract attention, well.  You can imagine.

There is an odd bit of space by our front walk that up until recently had been the home of many of the kinds of plants that the previous owner liked - palmy, subtropical-y types of things (not my cup of tea)(in fact, he had a habit of layering such plants in front of the plants that were already in the yard, which means that we have a half-acre of wildly over-planted property, and that I dislike half the plants we have; alas, they are often the plants that Rick likes).  In the ten years since we've moved in, it had gotten immensely overgrown, and was utterly dominated by a sago palm that was at least six feet in diameter (I am not exaggerating here)(the sago took up almost the whole space on the left of the picture below, between the post and the black pot).  Not only that, but all the growth was utterly blocking any light from getting into the room that is Rick's office (you can see that window in the second picture).  So I decided it was time to clear it out.  This worried Rick, for whom change is a bit daunting, but I convinced him (it helped that we decided to try transplanting the sago, so it felt less like whole-sale destruction).  I should have taken a before picture, but once we got it cleared out, this is what I was left with.

(Note: I still couldn't convince Rick that we needed to get rid of that camellia.  He just could not let go.)

(Note also: I do not like that camellia.  It was sort of trellised, and it kind of looks like a bas-relief bush.  I don't much like bas-relief bushes, they seem odd to me.  Also, it feels like it's lurking there just as you come in the gate, waiting to mug you with waxy leaves - not welcoming.)

I spent yesterday gathering things - plants, soil, pots, etc, - and once Rick headed out for a bike ride this morning, this bit of space and I spent some quality time together.  I pruned the camellia.  (And now, of course, that I spend blood sweat and tears trying to get it under control without getting rid of it, Rick agrees with me that it really doesn't belong there.)  I planted and potted things.  I arranged and rearranged.  At the end of several hours of work, I ended up with this.

 It's got some filling in to do, of course, and there are plans to add more plants.  The goal is to have California natives and herbs, mostly perennials.  That path in front leads straight to the front door, whence there is a straight shot to the kitchen.  This means fresh herbs for me!

 So far, there are two kinds of thyme, sage, terragon, lemon verbena, both culinary and not-so-culinary lavender, garlic, and lemon balm.  More will go in next week.  I also have several California natives, like sea grass, and a low-growing manzanita, things like that.  The plan is to put some Douglas irises and blue-eyed grass in, too, in that corner to the right.  I think this is going to be much better once it's grown up some.  Time will tell.

 Meanwhile, I have cast on for another sweater.  This is going to be Scoria, when it's all grown up (assuming I have enough yarn; I am still trying to knit at least some things out of stash, and I had what I'm hoping is a sweater's worth of this yarn stashed away, so here I go).  I am knitting it out of Plymouth Yarn Vita, a cotton/cashmere blend whose virtues I have extolled in the past.  I still love it.  It is my hope that this will become this year's conference sweater - we shall see.

I have also been working in fits and starts on Color Affection.  My gut feeling is that I'd be further along with this if it weren't for the fact that managing the three balls of yarn isn't easy.  It's not so much having three balls on the go that's the issue, as the fact that they're those flat little balls that yarn like this tends to come in, which are worked from the outside in, rather than center-pull.  This means that it's not possible to just have them sit nicely in a bag whilst I knit; they have to be able to roll around.  It makes this less good for knitting in meetings than I'd hoped.

I'm (as you can see) trying something different; I'm knitting this out of Cascade Kid Seta, so it's very fuzzy.  I'm still not sure what I'll think of that in the long run.  In the short term, I'm kind of liking the wrong side even better than the right side.  What do you think?

I've cast on for one more thing, and bought yarn for yet another, but I think those can wait until next time.  It's time to settle down and knit by my incipient garden for now.

Achievements

OK.  It's been a while.  I kept meaning to post, but, if I am going to be completely honest, it was so nice to truly take some time away from my computer that I couldn't bring myself to sit down at it for anything more than the bare minimum work requirements (OK, that was in July; before that, I was spending so much time at my computer wrapping up several HUGE projects that I couldn't bear to be at the computer to do anything else).  Instead, I spent the month of July and early August as much outdoors as I could be, and loved every minute of it. 

I think I also have been having trouble conceptualizing a blog post that isn't just a recap of all of those lovely grade-school "What I Did With My Summer" essays.*  So instead, I think I'll just hit some of the high points - the things that felt like a challenge, or like something I've wanted to do for a while, or an achievement for someone in the family, and then throw a few additional fun photos in over the next several weeks (because I just downloaded all the pictures off the camera, and there are a LOT).  (Note added later: I realized that there is no sane way to get everything into one post, especially if I want to include some fiber content - and I do! - so I'll just have to do the second half of the summer in the next one.)

First, Younger Daughter "graduated" from her grade school.  This is a bigger deal than it might seem, since she's been going there, first to day care, then preschool, then grade school, since she was about 18 months old.  Next Monday, she starts at her brand-new middle school, and it's going to be a huge change for her.  She's ready, but it was nice to have a moment to celebrate the change.

(Her face is in shadow, but it is the only picture I have that doesn't also include OPK.)(Other Peoples' Kids.)

Very soon thereafter, we packed up and headed to Mammoth for a solid week of getting outside and getting some family time.  During that week, we took our first overnight backpacking trip as a family.  Just one night, but the big goal (from my perspective) was for the girls to want to do it again.  I knew that Rick's trail choice was dead-on when Older Daughter, pack and all, turned to me most of the way through our hike in to say with excitement, "I feel so self-sufficient!" 

We schlepped in about five miles to a string of lakes, where we set up camp.  The views were remarkable (note: not photoshopped in any way).

As were the insects (can you see that golden, sun-lit cloud in between the trees there?  yes, that's right - mosquitoes).

The next morning, we abandoned our big packs for a while, and headed up further into the mountains, following a string of lakes,

(which looked remarkably like parts of the Scottish highlands - check it out, doesn't this look like heather, even?),

to the last of the snow, where Tilly had her own achievement - stepping on the cold frozen stuff for the first time.

She wasn't quite sure what she thought of it.

Two days later, the girls and I went on a half-day horseback riding excursion (not a trivial matter for our non-saddle-trained selves, especially as we climbed - and therefore descended - 2,000 vertical feet during the ride, which requires a lot of work for a rider, if you're planning to help the horse at all).  The top was a reminder that Mammoth is, indeed, an old volcano (dormant only).

But you climb that high up, and you get rewarded by the views.

I also knitted on that trip.  My knitting mojo just isn't what I'd like it to be these days - I'm not sure why I'm feeling jammed up, so, as you'll see in the next post, I'm pulling out some old projects that I think are taking up space in my guilt-ridden back brain, and trying to move those forward.  In Mammoth, however, I started and finished two new things.

That little lovely was a test knit for Anne, who did a stunning photo shoot that puts my efforts to shame; you may want to check it out (the pattern has also been released).

The pattern is Twig and Leaf, and it comes in three sizes - this is the smallest.  It is knitted out of the (new to me) Briar Rose Stella, which is an absolute treat to work with; it's hard to go wrong with a laceweight merino/silk blend in one of Chris' stunning colorways (it even looks like she has one more skein left in this color).  This particular version is destined to go to the Briar Rose booth as a sample, so you can visit it, but I will be casting on to knit my own veryvery soon - it's fun to knit, and utterly wearable.  The only question I have is whether to knit this size, or make the medium.  So many hard choices...
I also finished up a pair of socks for myself while we were there, which I haven't had a chance to wear since coming back, as it's been hot and humid here (le sigh).

These are Clandestine Socks, and they were really great fun to knit.  This is a good travel knitting pattern because, apart from the lace edging, they're quite easy, but fun enough to keep one's attention.  I need to find the yarn label (sorry), but this is a merino/alpaca blend, if I remember correctly, by a local dyer; I picked this yarn up at a local festival about a year ago.

So, that's it for now.  There's more (believe me!), but I think I'll stop here and go work on some spinning I have on the wheel. 


*My brother once got very creative and told his teacher that he'd been to Greenland on his summer vacation.  He even had it straight that Greenland is the colder, less-populated one (as opposed to Iceland).  He apparently had lots of detail for verisimilitude - heaven knows where he got it, probably National Geographic - but the teacher did eventually check with my mom, who was rather surprised to find out where we'd gone that year...  I did not go to Greenland this summer, and I will not tell you that I did.

A little leeway

I'm plugging away on the shawl for my friend's daughter.  I had in my head that her graduation was this weekend, and I was thinking that there was no way it would be done in time for my friend to take with her to Berkeley, but was consoling myself that at least it would be here when they came back.  So I checked in with my friend today, and it turns out that the graduation is a week from this weekend.  Hooray!  It suddenly seems like I have all the time in the world.

The colors aren't quite right in these photos; they're taken with my phone in my office.  As it's a gray day here, the light is very diffuse and (as always with gray days) surprisingly bright, in a dim sort of way.  The lighter color is much closer to a sea-foam green than anything, and I think between that and the pale gray (not to mention the wave at the edge, once it's cast off), it meets the specified liking for ocean colors.

This is moving along fairly quickly.  It helps that I love the yarn (Frog Tree Pediboo), and that most of the rows are stockinette, so I can read while I'm knitting (which I did this last weekend; Nook finally has my favorite Bujold books available, so I got a couple, along with Reich's latest ebook release, which I highly recommend, if anyone is looking for something that will make them think, and perhaps foam at the mouth, in a good sort of way).  It's not a difficult or mind-consuming knit, but a fun one.  I'm done with the striping, so now it's only the gray border to go.  And I have a two-hour Senate meeting this afternoon, which should translate to some progress.

In fact, here you can see the meeting prep corner of my office.

Usually, it's just the spindle (for quiet moments in my office - rare, but nice), and the bag on the left (with an endless stockinette scarf); the Whippoorwill is in the bag to the right, which I'm pleased I remembered today.  (I actually took a few more office pictures today; perhaps a virtual office tour may be forthcoming at some point...)

And speaking of spindling, tomorrow night and next Thursday, I get to teach another spindling class at my LYS!  I always look forward to these classes - I just wish that there was some always-good time to offer them.  Whether I do the two-part series on Thursday nights or Saturday mornings, there's someone who was hoping to take it who can't make it at that time (scheduling college classes is the same way, alas).  But if there's anyone local who is interested and available, there are still spots left.  Not only is it a fun class, but I happen to know that we still have some fiber from DesigKnit, and I'll be bringing the yarn I spun from a combination of her BFL and Polwarth, for petting and inspiration.

So spake the blog

I don't know if you all realize just how much influence you have.  But by way of example, when you, with one voice, said that I should finish the Vancouver stole (using words like "beautiful", and "you should finish it"), I was re-inspired.  And so I have been knitting, exclusively and nearly non-stop during every spare moment (of which there have not been many, actually), ever since.  And at 2:00 am on Saturday morning, I finished the endless insane 390-kitchener-stitch lovely and well-designed tubular cast-off.  See how powerful you are?

And, as I was knitting along, thinking to myself that I really, really wanted this finished before leaving for Montreal (more on that later) on Wednesday, it suddenly occurred to me that I also wanted a matching hat.  I mean, we all know that the knitter's worst curse is the plethora of lovely but utterly mismatched handknits that we pile upon ourselves come the cold, but I wanted something matching.  (I should note here that I have been so crazy at work lately that 10-hour days aren't doing it anymore, which is why I haven't been blogging - when I have had a spare minute these last few weeks, it has been dedicated to Vancouver. Nevertheless, I wanted a hat.  Before Montreal.)  And Lori came through for me (without any prompting or knowledge of my need, which is impressive) when she posted about a pattern that she received for her recent birthday - the Hat for Eudora.  So I knitted one of those, too. I mean, what's one more thing when life is already bat-shit-crazy busy and fulfilling?


And, on Friday night, as I was plowing through endless rows of linen stitch followed by the lovely 390-kitchener-stitch cast off row (it is a really, really good thing that I think kitchener stitch is the best thing since merino/silk blends), I watched a movie that Helen had recently posted about: Crazy, Stupid, Love.  And she was right - I laughed out loud (which I don't often do), and I found the relationship between Steve and Ryan to be the most compelling and intriguing of the lot.  I liked that movie very much, and it certainly kept me happy during my 15th inch of linen stitch.

And aren't the results nice?

The difficulty with knitting this much linen stitch is that it essentially means knitting an entire stole in the equivalent of 1x1 rib.  Hard on the wrists.  Not to mention the sanity.

But so lovely.  To recap, this is the Vancouver stole, knitted out of Blue Moon Fiber Arts BFL, in three colors (all on my Rav page).  I will say that it didn't block out to be as big as the pattern said (no, I didn't swatch, why do you ask?), but I think that it is a size that I will use a lot here, as opposed to just in very cold places.  It also drapes beautifully.  And the yarn was a dream to work with.  The three colors together also made me very happy - each of them set the other off perfectly. 

There's the tubular cast-off.  Which rather matched the tubular cast-on (I admit here and now that tubular cast-ons charm me to pieces; I'm prepared to use them on just about anything at this point).

The hat was also a delightful pattern - it knitted up very quickly (I did it all yesterday), and it's fun.

Do you see the nifty little welts on that side (hence the name - Eudora Welty, get it?)?  And it has a wonderful turned-up hem, in a contrasting color.

I may actually make another of these in the gray color from the shawl, with a blue turned-up hem, that's how much I like it.

In any case, they are done.  And I leave on Wednesday, and Rick's cousin is coming into town this evening for two nights.  So it's a really good thing that it's done.

I should also mention, in case anyone's worrying about the "real-world" side of this trip, that my conference paper is written, and the presentation has been prepared.  So it's not like I'm going to be standing up there solely on the strength of an admittedly-nifty but not very linguistic stole.  In fact, I probably won't wear the stole for my talk - that's what my handknit henley is for.  Now I'm just hoping that we don't freeze to death while we're there.  (I'm becoming rather a delicate flower when it comes to cold weather - when I had to get into the pool this last week and it was 43 degrees out, I confess that I griped.  Loudly.)

Anyone have any suggestions for things to see and do whilst in Montreal and Quebec?  Younger Daughter is coming with me, and I'm planning to enjoy some time in the city once my paper is over. 

Now, I just have to decide what knitting projects to pack...

Mileage

We have certainly put the mileage on this weekend!  On Friday, Rick had to drive down to Coronado (about fifty miles south of here) to help lay floors for Younger Daughter's dance school's feis.  As soon as he got home, we loaded the car up, and headed 200 miles north (about 3.5 hours) to Tehachapi (feeling very grateful that the Cajon pass had reopened after a brush fire shut it down; the traffic still wasn't pretty, but at least it was rolling), where the tribe that I work with was hosting a huge fundraiser on Saturday called Go Native Days.  We worked at that all day on Saturday (well, the girls and I worked; Rick went for a well-earned bike ride), and then drove home on Saturday night.  Then on Sunday, it was back down to Coronado for the feis, before finally coming to a rest here at home last night.

Tilly was really glad when we didn't leave again this morning.

Today has been a catch-up day, and as part of that catch-up, I finally got a few pictures of some recently-finished projects.  Alas, I completely forgot to bring my camera to Saturday's event!  (But I do have a few things to share from that in another post.)

First up, Stripe Study (modelled here by Younger Daughter):

I really love these colors together, but I have to admit something - I'm not 100% sure how to wear this to its best advantage.  By its nature, it is asymmetrical (it reminds me very much of a fiddler crab), and that has me stumped.  In this picture, it is aligned so that the point is at about the middle of the back, with the long arm of the shawl tucked over the shoulder under the shorter arm.

That's how it looks from behind.  I see that as one option.  The other option is to make the arms about even in front, which puts the point over one shoulder.

Then it looks like this from the back.

And front.  Opinions?  Those of you who have knit this, how do you wear it?

In any case, to recap, this is Stripe Study, knitted in Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Lace II, on size 6 needles.  I love the yarn - it was wonderful to work with, it has a lovely hand, and it knitted up beautifully even before I blocked this.  The pattern was clear and easy - very good travel and meeting knitting, in spite of needing to haul two yarn colors around.  This is definitely one I'd knit again (assuming I figure out how to wear it), and that's not something I say often of a garter stitch project.

The next project is a pair of socks that I'm embarrassed to say I started on the trip to Peru and only just recently finished.  Honestly, they should have gone faster, but I got distracted by the siren call of stripes (and cashmere, let's not forget the cashmere).

These went to Younger Daughter, since they fit her perfectly.  They're knitted out of Vintage Purls Vintage Sock yarn, which I have knitted with before and just love, on size 1 needles.  (I am happy to report that there's enough of this left over that I think I'll make myself a pair of clog socks with the rest.)  I used my usual toe-up pattern, with a slip-stitch heel flap under the heel, and the gusset stitch reductions happening on the back of the leg (rather than at the side).  I added a little travelling stitch thing just for fun.  Younger Daughter seems to like them.

So that's it for finished projects.  Right now, I am working my way glacially slowly through the fifteen inches of linen stitch (over about 300+ stitches) that I need to start out Vancouver.  Thank goodness I love the colors and the yarn (BFL, mmm...), because otherwise this one would be a chore.  But I plug away at it, a few rows here and there, and someday it will be done.  I am also working on the pair of Silk Road socks that I am knitting for myself.  I had a totally delusional moment on Saturday night while I was packing them up to go to the feis when I wondered why I couldn't find the first sock to take along (so I could be sure to compare the second sock to it so they match).  Until I realized that there is no first sock - I am still knitting it.  Alas.

And finally, as the secretary of my union local, I would be remiss if I didn't wish you all a happy Labor day, and leave you with this quote from the Department of Labor's description of why we celebrate Labor day:

"The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker."