Where are the pictures?

I just got back from my second conference of the month, that of the South Central Chapter of the Medical Library Association. This is my "old" chapter, the one that I belonged to (geographically) all those years I lived in Texas. My "new" chapter, the Midwest Chapter, is great, but going to SCC is like spending 4 days with 200 of my closest friends -- I've know some of them since I attended my first meeting in 1986, on a student scholarship, and some of them I've only know a year or two, but they're like family.

So I love these people -- but I didn't really take any pictures of them! Indeed, most of the pictures are of Van the Armadillo, who visited us from the Tulsa Zoo.

More pics of Van here - I actually have a flickr tag for armadillos!

Our closing party (a very elegant sit-down dinner, with dancing, which is always amusing, considering the women:men ratio) was at the Philbrook Museum of Art, which is in a gorgeous mansion.

More pictures of the gardens here.

There was knitting, too. In fact, there were several knitters in attendance, and some went out on a mini-yarn crawl. I didn't go - instead, I went with about 35 people to a Thai restaurant -- much less expensive!

Hedgerow Socks, in Malabrigo Sock Yarn in the Persia colorway, which is actually much more blue and not at all brown. Stupid light....

FO!

I have been knitting -- a lot, in fact. I am not a fast knitter. Sometime in September, I decided that I wanted to make my friend and mentor Ellen something hand-knit for her 70th birthday. I knew I would see her at a conference in October. She lives in Texas, and doesn't really need hand-knits, so I decided a small shawl would be good. I decided on Ishbel, made from a skein of the Malabrigo Sock yarn that I seem to be collecting. She can wear it under her winter jacket without adding too much bulk.

I cast on and got about half way through the plain stockinette section, but then put it aside to finish my February Lady Sweater, because I wanted to be able to wear it at my October conferences - one of which began on October 1! As you know, I finished the sweater on September 27. I picked Ishbel up, knowing I had about 2 weeks to finish it. However, looking at the stockinette, I was unhappy and felt like my stitch count was off, so I frogged the whole thing!

Off I went to my first conference, where I knitted a lot (and also bought lots of yarn, including more Malabrigo Sock yarn!). I got back home on the 7th and finished knitting on the 12th. It would have been nice if we had had a three day weekend like some people, but I had to go to work!

The yarn in Malabrigo Sock Yarn in the Solis colorway.

I have to say that this is not my best knitting. I probably should have gone down a needle size and made the large version (I made the "small stockinette/large knit" version). The stockinette part definitely looks too loose and the yarnovers are too big. There's also a wonky area at the edge, over the span of a couple rows. It's only noticeable when it's stretched out blocking, and only I know it's there -- well, y'all do now, too -- but it's disappointing.

The wonkiness is on the left edge, out of the picture!

But - I'm giving it to Ellen anyway. Crunched up in the neckline of her jacket, it will be very pretty!

Since I'm sure you're also waiting for a cat update, too, I need to tell you that Harley and Dolly are suddenly best of friends! They cuddle up on the bed and lick each others' ears. Very sweet, and it only took a year and a half! I'll try to get a picture of it for you.

I did, though, get a picture of Vinnie cuddling with my mom, who visited over the weekend.

It was much easier to knit with Vinnie on Mom's lap and not mine!

Saturday morning, Mom and I were up bright and early to eat breakfast at the Hamburg Inn (biscuits and gravy - yum!) before the Homecoming crowd got there. At about 8:45 we heard a murmur through the restaurant: "snow! SNOW! SNOW!" Yes, on October 10, it was snowing! And not just a few random flakes, but genuine flurries that lasted a couple hours, and even stuck to the still-green grass and leaves! Luckily it all melted practically as soon as it stopped snowing, but it's been cold - with highs in the low 40s, 20 degrees below normal - all week. I'm so not ready for winter; I'm glad it's supposed to warm up again!

I tried to take a picture of the snow.
Here you can almost see it on Home Ec Workshop's window shade.

Travels, stash enhancement, and photoless knitting progress

October is practically in double-digits and this is my first post. In my defense, I was out of town for the first five days, attending a conference in Columbus, Ohio. Great conference, with plenty of knitting-friendly presentations. I made excellent progress on the Ishbel I'm knitting from Malabrigo Sock yarn. Unfortunately, the pictures are being held hostage on my camera, whose cord seems to be missing. Take my word for it - it's pretty and green and blue and probably about 70% finished! For those of you who have knit Ishbel, I'm doing the "small stockinette-large lace" version. And it has to be done by next Thursday, so I need to keep knitting!

While in Ohio, I did manage to visit a few yarn shops and to purchase some souvenir yarn.

At the Knitter's Mercantile in Columbus, I bought sock yarn:

Two more skeins of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Persia and Eggplant,
and a skein of Alpaca Sox in a pretty sage-y green

I also bought stitch markers and crochet cotton, which I needed to tame Ishbel. Oh - and a skein of Online sock yarn which has already be gifted to the co-worker who cat-watched for me while I was gone.

At Wonderknit, I purchased a skein of locally-dyed sock yarn. I talked myself out of a skein of lace yarn...

Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio Sock in Tenley Park (not quite so neon in real life!)

I also had the opportunity to visit a couple shops in Dayton. Actually, they were both in the suburb of Beavercreek. Fiberworks is smaller, with some very nice yarn, including a few brands (don't ask me which - it's late and my brain is tired) that I had heard of but never seen, and a lot of fiber, for you spinners. Busy Beaver is an all-purpose hobby/crafts shop, with an eclectic mix of yarns in the back room. They had a lot of cotton blend yarns, which is what I bought there.

At the top is a skein of Jojoland Harmony, purchased at Fiberworks, which I want to use for a scarf/shawlette that will show off its color changes.
Below that are two skeins of Cestari sock yarn, from Busy Beaver, which is a cotton-wool blend.

And now I have to convince Vinnie to let me knit a bit longer....

The October Lady Sweater is done!

My goal was to have my February Lady Sweater finished by October 1 (hence the name), and I did it! I wore it to work today, September 30.

It's made from Brooks Farm Mas Acero (wool/silk/viscose) and I had heard that it grew when soaked. Boy, did it! But that's okay - it's really about the length I thought I wanted it.

(Rav'ed here.)

I'm really happy with it -- it's nice and soft and except for one wonky button hole, I think it turned out great!

Sorry about the crappy picture, taken in the restroom at work. I don't really have a mirror at home that works for this. Of course, I'm not sure how well the staff restroom works, either!

Sunday morning

Did I tell you I bought myself a bike for my birthday? You know how they say "it's like riding a bike"? Well, it really is! It had probably been 25 years since I had ridden a bike, but it only took about 10 feet to stop wobbling the first time I tried out my new bike.

It's definitely an "old lady" bike, but I wanted something close to the kind of bike I rode when I was a kid. I hated the 10-speed/hand-brake bike I had in college, so this one has coaster brakes, sits up straight, and has only 3 speeds. I even considered getting just a 1-speed bike, but knew that Iowa City's hills would make me appreciate a few gears to shift between.

There's a nice bike path along the creek/pond behind my townhouse. It's practically flat (nothing here is really flat) and on Sunday morning, the only people I see are people pushing baby strollers and occasionally another middle-aged woman on a bike. Someday I'll venture beyond that path, but for now, it's nice to not have to worry about sharing space with cars.

Oh -- and why is the bike indoors? Because I don't have a garage or even anything to lock it to outside! Actually, I could put it out on the balcony, but I like protecting it from the elements. Around Thanksgiving, I'll probably load it into the car and take it to Mom's for the winter, so it won't be taking up space in my dining/sitting room all winter.

Some of you may not understand what's going on in these two photos, especially if you've never had to defrost a freezer. Actually, I don't think I had defrosted one since about 1983 until I moved here. The fridge that came with the place is about 30 years old, and must be defrosted.

Vinnie really wanted to help out with the cooler, but I needed to bring it upstairs to the kitchen, to put the food from the freezer in it while I defrosted. (Last night, I forced myself to eat the rest of the ice cream, because it wouldn't last in the cooler.)

About 5 minutes after I set the pan of boiling water in the freezer, that giant chunk of ice fell off the top of the compartment. By the time I finish this post, I think it will be ready to wipe and fill back up. It's really not a lot of work, but its annoying - and my stove is at least as old as the refrigerator! (Insert whining about the appliances I left behind in San Antonio.)

And I have been knitting, too. I think I need two more pattern repeats on the body, and I'll be ready to move on to the sleeves of the October Lady Sweater. I really want this done by October 1, although Vinnie hates it when I knit with him in my lap. I figure he slows my already snail-like knitting pace down by 50%, as he constantly adjusts his position so that he's on top of the knitting!

A day without cats on the internet??

Dolly says, "Oh, noes!"

Vinnie says, "No way!"

Harley says, "Meh...."

Here's the funniest cat video I've seen all week:



Update

Original, right? I don't have much to say about knitting, or much of anything else. I should be preparing for a class I'm teaching tomorrow evening (information resources for global health, anyone? That would be "global health," as in something being studied, not "global health," as in "I can make everyone healthy with these databases!" Because if that were the case, librarians would rule the world!).

Anywhoooo..... I have been working on my October Lady Sweater, and am now into the gull lace pattern, but just barely. I know this is known as a fast knit, but I am a slow knitter and don't really have all that much time to knit, anyway. But here it is, thus far:

In reality, the color changes aren't quite so dramatic.

I really want to have this done by the beginning of October, for my first October conference. Of course, by my second October conference, I'd like to have finished Ishbel. One of my closest friends and mentors turned 70 this weekend, and I'll see her there. It just occurred to me yesterday that, instead of buying her a pair of earrings or something for her kitchen, I should knit her something! And this yarn (Malabrigo Sock in Solis) would be perfect for her.

Ishbel is also supposed to be a fast knit - I've seen people post about knitting one in an afternoon - but I'm not so sure. Here's how far along I am right now:

Ha! At least the yarn is wound and the pattern is purchased, printed, and safely in its plastic slipcover!

Bullets

• I was looking forward to wearing my new Buttercup to knitting at Home Ec Saturday morning, but it was a little chilly, so I wore Daedelus instead.

• We've had a chilly summer, in fact. I hate to complain about it, considering what my friends and family in Texas have had this summer, but I worry that, if it's getting down into the 40s in late August, what's it going to be like in December?

• I had some bananas on the counter, so I made these muffins this morning. Wow - talk about yum! (I used regular whole wheat flour, butter, and Greek yogurt.)

• It's hard to type with a big boy kitty on my lap between me and the laptop!

• Friday night, I cast on for my February Lady Sweater (which I think I'll call October Lady Sweater, in hopes I get it done!), using some Brooks Farm Mas Acero that I got at Stitches Midwest last September. I'm about halfway through the garter stitch bodice. I find garter stitch wildly boring, so I'm plowing through it.

• Before I cast on, I finished the first Bougainvillea sock. I started these back in February. I love the pattern and the yarn (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in cranberry), but I haven't been in much of a sock mood lately. (Weird....)

• I've finalized my Christmas knitting plans. I think it's very do-able, and I've got the planning done much earlier than usual. Plus -- it's all being knit from stash!

• Gotta go - almost time for Mad Men!

Time Flies!

Really, I didn't mean for it to be two weeks. But since it has been, I guess I would say that the highlights were seeing the butter cow and butter Abe at the Illinois State Fair and finishing Buttercup.

And there was a butter kitten, too.



There were also several butter butterflies hanging above Abe and the cow. If you look closely, at the very top of the first picture, there's something small and butter-colored. That's a butterfly!

There's been a butter cow at the Illinois State Fair every year since 1922. Can you imagine how hard it must have been to keep the cow from melting back then?

I also (almost) finished Buttercup. She's laying on top of the dryer, drying, right now, and I still need to sew in some ends. I'm pretty happy with it. I wanted to make it more of a baby doll shape, and I think I may have done that just a little too well! But it's still a cute summer top.

Sorry for the lousy picture. The cats are particularly unhelpful.

Details
Pattern: Buttercup (Ravelry link -- the only place I can find it)
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in Eucalyptus. Hemp, cotton, and nylon - I loved this yarn! I'll definitely use it again.
Mods/notes: I wanted this to be a little more baby doll shaped, so I increased it a bit more to make it flare. I also did five pattern repeats at the bottom, rather than one. (I got both of these ideas from Hapichick, on Ravelry.) As I said in my notes on Ravelry -- if you're one of those people who is uncomfortable showing more than an inch below your collarbones, this isn't the top for you. While this should be obvious from the photos, I was surprised at how many people seemed surprised at how wide/deep the neckline was when they finished.

This was a great pattern, and I really enjoyed knitting it. It took me about 6 weeks, which, considering how slow I am and how little knitting time I have, was really quick!

It fits!

No, Buttercup (Rav link) isn't finished yet, but I did put it on waste yarn to make sure it fits -- and it does!

The color is off - it's really a sort of blue-grey-green.
However, this is the best I could do in my tiny downstairs bathroom.

I'm doing a little modification - I'm making it more baby-doll shape, and am doing a wider trim at the bottom, a la Hapichick. As of Saturday, there's a new version of this pattern available -- I'm not looking at it, because this one is working for me!

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How cute is this?


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And Denise on Clear Creek is turning destashing into a contest -- go to her blog to see! (There's sock yarn and Malabrigo!!!)

More Yarny Goodness

I don't know about you, but tonight I'm working on socks, pretending I'm at Sock Summit (assuming there are lap-sitting cats at SS09).

This is Vinnie, who has gone from growling at me a month ago to sitting on my lap whenever we're in the same room. And it's hard to take a picture of your own lap.

I forgot one of my yarn-related birthday gifts in my last post. My brother got me this great knitting pirate t-shirt.

In the last few days, other knitting goodies have arrived in my mailbox.

Here's this month's yarn from the Mean Girls Yarn Club. Accompanying it are a stitch marker (attached to the label), a lollipop, and, my favorite, a tiny crochet hook on a key chain ring. I've been wanting one of these for ages! This one is made by 5elementknitr, who is currently at Sock Summit, with all the other cool kids.

And a week or so ago, while working on Buttercup, the cord to one of my Harmony Options broke. It came out of the part that screws onto the needle. This was extremely annoying, so I called them. I know that I'm not the first person to have this problem, but I've got to say customer service was great. They put a package of two more in the mail, and told me just to throw the broken one away. I love my Harmonies, and even if they aren't perfect, I'm glad that this problem was so easily resolved

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, it's my birthday, and I got some knitting-related gifts!

My sister sent me a Shawl Stick and a little K2tog pin. I think she got them both at Yarn Barn in San Antonio, and I love them both!

I also got two knitting books. Knitting in the Sun is full of great patterns -- Santorini and Bordeaux are all already in my Ravelry queue, and I'm sure others will join them.

I also received a copy of Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders, which also has great patterns. The friend who gave it to me admits, though, that the deciding factor was the toddler sized elephant hat. (Rav link - sorry!) I'm trying to decide if I can upscale it to fit her!

I'm still working on Buttercup, and it's going well. I went back to finish the sleeves and neckline before I continue on the body. That way, I won't be worried about running out of yarn. I'll probably finish the neckline this evening, so I'll post a photo of that much next time.

New stuff

It seems like a great deal of yarn has come into the house lately, and I haven't blogged it or even posted it on Ravelry (I LOVE the stash page on Ravelry -- I actually know what yarn I have now!)

Of course, there were eight balls of Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy in Eucalyptus (027), which they describe as grey green -- I think it's more of a bluey green. It's being made into the previously described Buttercup.

There's also the three skeins of Dream in Color Smooshy. One skein is in Petal Shower

and two are in Absolute Magenta.

The magenta is destined (at the moment, at least) to become Ishbel.

There's also two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Wendy Knits Sunrise, which was dyed in honor of this Wendy



and a skein of Tempted Good Grrl in Va-Va-Voom.

And if that weren't enough --

a Namaste Buddy Case

(I'm not sure what I'll use it for, but I love the removable divider),

a Knit'n'Walk (although I'm pretty sure I'd be unable to knit while I walked),

and, finally, a bag that I got on sale from some store at the mall -- they had them on sale for $10, hanging on racks out front.

A bit much for a purse but great for a knitting bag. Here's a close-up of the print:

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Harley says, "This makes me very tired..."

Knitting!

I know, I know -- 3 posts in 2 days! Don't get used to it!

Also, this one has actual knitting content! Including a finished object! Whoa!

Here it is -- the baby-sized Artful Afghan (which is the same project as the Artful Elegance Afghan, just with different colors recommended -- you'll find examples under both names in Ravelry), finished the night before the mother went into labor (in fact, as I write this, I haven't heard that the baby has been born yet). This is an extremely easy pattern, which, for me, makes it wildly boring. It really shouldn't have taken four months to finish! However, I'm happy with the result.

The yarn is Cotton-Ease, in a variety of colors. From the center: Berry, Lime, Lake, Azalea, Violet, and Charcoal. I had never knit with Cotton-Ease before, but it's a nice machine-washable and -dryable yarn. It's a good thing I like it, because I've got quite a bit left over!

Last night, despite a numerous WIPs that have been completely ignored for the last couple months, I cast on for Buttercup (Rav link, where the pattern is available for free) using Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy, in the evocatively named 027 colorway (light blue-green). And I'm hoping you're sitting down because I actually did a gauge swatch!

My stitch gauge is right on, although the row gauge is off. But that's pretty easy to accomodate. Tonight, I'll cast on for the actually project.

And it occurs to me that some unblogged-about yarn has come into my life recently. So there's another post (but don't hold your breath)....

Bezzie's Library Card meme

Bezzie has requested that we post pictures of our library cards. And on mine, you get to see my bad handwriting, too, although in a pique of uncharacteristic paranoia, I've blurred out part of my signature, in addition to my card number and barcode.

And I promise -- knitting next time!

Fun with the Family

I took a few days off last week and met up with my mom, brother, and niece at Illinois Beach State Park. We're a camping family, but we don't camp because of a love of the great outdoors or anything like that. We camp because it's a whole lot cheaper than staying in a hotel! Over the years, we went lots of places, like Washington, D.C. and Key West, that we wouldn't have been able to afford any other way. We started out 45 years ago with a teeny little tent and air mattresses, cooking over a fire -- although just about the first "fancy" accessory we bought, after sleeping bags, was a propane camp stove.

Now Mom has a pop-up camper, with (almost) real beds. However, I'm afraid our little camper may have gotten a little bit of an inferiority complex from our neighbors!

It was really chilly while we were there. The Lake Michigan beach was 2 minutes away, but we spent the hour there huddled up in our sweatshirts. One afternoon, instead of going to the beach, we visited the Jelly Belly Distribution Center, 20 minutes north, just over the state line in Wisconsin.

We were driven around on a little train and watched videos of the history of Jelly Bellies. And we all had to wear paper hats.

Of course, the tour ended in the the gift shop, where we stocked up on Belly Flops -- Jelly Bellies that aren't quite up to standard.

On the 4th of July, we drove into Chicago -- all the way down Sheridan Road, maybe not as fast -- sometimes -- as taking the Tri-State (where I was stopped for more than an hour on Friday by this accident) but a whole lot more interesting of a drive -- and went to Taste of Chicago. Because it was chilly and a little bit drizzly, it wasn't real crowded when we arrived.

I was thrilled to see a booth from one of my favorite Chicago restaurants, Star of Siam, so I had Pad Thai and potstickers. My brother and niece wandered off to find "real food," but Mom had Pad Thai with me.

I'm not sure Mom had ever had Thai food before, but she liked the Pad Thai!

After sampling a few more things (and I wish I could remember the day of the place where we got the yummy Chocolate Hazelnut gelato), we made our way to Navy Pier. Frankly, a rainy holiday is NOT the day to go to Navy Pier -- all the people who should be outside there are crowded indoors! But I do wish I had had more time to look at the stained glass on display.

This window was overlooking the staircase in the house of a former mayor of Kankakee.

That night, we sought out the local fireworks in Zion, the town next to Illinois Beach. (Click that link about Zion - the town has a really interesting history!)

Ooh!


Aah!

The next morning, we had a great -- and cheap! -- breakfast at Emily's Pancake House in Beach Park (there's one in Waukegan, too). If you're ever in the area, stop there for breakfast or lunch (they close at 3:00). Our waitress was as good as the food - when she heard that my niece had been excited to find a slice of kiwi in her side of fruit, she brought her a bowl of nothing but kiwi and cantaloupe!

And then we made our way home, where I found three kitties who had missed me -- even Vinnie wanted to be petted!

Next time: actual knitting content! (Guess what is finally finished?)