Finished: Funky Camo Socks

I knit these for the most "unique" of my children -- my middle son E. He picked the yarn and told me how he wanted them made: "only up to about here, and just a plain pattern, and not too loose 'cause I hate when my socks bunch up inside my shoe." Done:

When I asked him to model them for me, he thought they'd look good with his pajama pants:

Yes, that's flannel. No, these aren't old pictures. Yes, Houston is still sauna-hot. No, his bedroom is actually kind of warm. He just really, really likes flannel pants and thinks they are year-round wear. The difference between winter and summer is that in summer you don't wear a shirt and you turn the ceiling fan on really high.

While I was knitting the socks, I kept wondering what kind of kid needs socks this long and skinny. The answer of course is my kid. Long skinny socks for long skinny feet:

All said, he likes the socks. "They'll be my Friday socks." We've checked his school dress code, and it appears that socks are actually one of the rare non-restricted areas, open for self-expression. He'd probably love the bmp socks but I don't want to knit them just yet so won't show him the pattern.

Specifics:

Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton in the "Fern" colorway, purchased from the Loopy Ewe.

Needles: Addi Turbo 2.5mm circs

Pattern: Basic sock pattern. 3x1 rib for the leg and instep, standard flap heel, standard kitchnered toe.

Learned for next time: I really should avoid doing too many simple projects like this -- if E hadn't been nagging me, these would have fallen to the bottom of my knitting list. Dull. The 2.5mm addis are the best needles for Panda Cotton for me.

Philadephia!

Sorry for my long absence -- M and I visited Philadelphia over the weekend, and my schedule before and after were/will be so hectic that I spent most of last week scurrying to have everything ready for the trip and for this week.

Let me first say that Philadelphia is a delightful city to visit, and I would expect it is also a delightful city to live in. We stayed at a 30+ story hotel in the middle of down town and yet were no more than a 10 minute walk from lovely green parks in every direction we tried. There were young families with children, people with pets, college students, and professional people on every sidewalk. People were friendly, and the streets seemed safe everywhere we went.

View from our hotel room:

One of the many fountains and many sculptures all over the city:


I had no idea that it was a statue before it was a postage stamp.

And, of course, the whole place is steeped in history. This is the room in the Pennsylvania State House (a.k.a. Independence Hall) where the Declaration of Independence was debated and then signed, and later where the Constitution was signed. The chair at the front is the very one that George Washington sat in when he signed the Constitution (my zoom was not strong enough to show the rising sun motif):

Other notable sites: The museum of the Americal Philsophical Society, which was running a small but very impressive exhibit on American explorers -- no photography allowed, unfortunately. The Liberty Bell, of course. The Ben Franklin Parkway, all of it, flanked with trees and amazing architecture and sculpture, from the "Love" fountain to the art museum with the steps of Rocky fame.

The reason for our visit was that M was receiving an award for technical achievement from the company he works for. I didn't realize how significant the award was until we got the awards dinner and I met and chatted with the CEO of the company as well as the company founder's son and grandson. So I'm very proud of my former lab and plant-design-project partner, now my spouse.

Nevertheless, I had made it clear to him that if I were going to spend 2 days of my vacation going to an out-of-town business function with him, he would have to accompany me for some yarn shopping. One short mile from our hotel, Rosie's Yarn Cellar. Literally in a basement, it was a tiny space with an enormous collection of the sorts of yarn I like to buy. The large selection of sock yarn was just inside the door, and a 180 degree turn and 2 steps took you to the very impressive collection of lace yarns. Knitted samples EVERYWHERE, most designed and knit by the staff. Who, by the way, were very helpful and friendly.

I need to do a "recent stash addition" post, but it will wait.

Oh, and I finished two socks (from two pairs) while I was there.

Oh, and I met a fellow knitter at the awards dinner -- she had a pattern published in IK a few years ago which I will have to look up...

Remembering the Symphony

They guys -- both sons and my husband -- went on a Boy Scout "camp out" this weekend. Quotes because the troop went to Schlitterbahn, an enormous, old, and truly wonderful water park in central Texas. They pitched tents at a genuine BSA camp near by, but ate all their meals at the water park so as to maximize fun time. So "camping" is term loosely used.

So K and I were at the house by ourselves this weekend. We had talked about what to do with our Girls Weekend. She suggested we go "motoring" in the MINI, but she quickly abandoned that idea when I mentioned a drive through scenic countryside that would also go very near a LYS I wanted to visit. That, and she wanted to have a classmate over for a play date.

I quickly jumped on "play date" because she suggested a girl who...how to put this...I think is a good match for K. The girl seems sweet, K never reports any conflicts with her, and I've met her parents and they seem to have the same values and lifestyle as us.

Last year, K had two good friends that I could never quite embrace. One was a girl I actively disliked -- she was petty, domineering, and manipulative. And, worse, the only time K didn't seem stressed about their relationship was when she was outmaneuvering, out manipulating the girl.

The second girl, the third of the disturbing little threesome, was nice enough but I couldn't connect with her mom. The girl was the grand daughter of a major sports celebrity, and dad had some considerable wealth from managing the franchises in grandpa's name. Her mom and I tried to connect for the sake of the girls' friendship, but we just couldn't find common ground. For one, I work full time and she never has. We had gone to the same university but she was into the sorority scene and I was an engineering major. We agreed that it was important to expose our kids to the things that would be important in later life -- but for her that was golf, tennis, and not pressuring kids too much about grades, and for me that was scouts, tae kwon do, and making sure my kids had challenging coursework.

So, I jumped on this opportunity to encourage a friendship with a sweet little girl whose parents are both professionals, who seem to have similar academic goals for our kids, and who have a hectic evening schedule that rivals ours. And that took care of Saturday DAY.

At piano lessons on Wednesday, the teacher and I were talking about upcoming Houston Symphony concerts and how we'd like to attend that weekend's program. As we left, K jumped on that idea -- "let's go see that, Mom. It sounds really fun." I agreed, we'll do it.

On the internet next day: cheapest seats were $45. I regained my breath, clicked "buy", and we were going. And on Saturday, I treated her to the whole thing -- dressing up in our best, getting dinner near the symphony hall with other concert and theater-goers, then claiming our seats at the hall.

They opened with Beethoven's 1st symphony -- good enough, but mainly interesting for historical perspective. The next piece was to be a modern thing, written in 1998 by Kevin Puts. K was already fidgeting, so I decided to start our intermission early. The bartender had a little sister about K's age, so he made her a very special Sprite with pink stuff and cherries. And we watched the Mr. Puts piece on the CCTV they had in the lobby (I actually liked it, but it was...modern.) Then we explored the hall a bit -- found all the bathrooms, talked about the 2nd balcony that had been closed off when they rejigged the ceiling for better acoustics, checked out the gift shop.

Then back to our seats for the Emperor concerto.

And what a treat that was. The pianist, Garrick Ohlsson, was wonderfully expressive, with tones ranging from silver bells to thundering cavalry. The orchestra was spot on with timing and phrasing. And, of course, it was Beethoven at his mature best, and there's not much in the world that can be better than that.

And I remembered why I love going to symphony, even though I haven't been in a few years. In a hall, you hear every note, every nuance -- without fiddling with the volume nob. And somehow you're part of it, not just a passive observer.

Ohlsson, for his part, was a very gracious showman. On his third call-back, he sat back down at the piano and played an encore -- the adagio from Beethoven's Pathetique. As it turns out, this was Kathryn's favorite part. When I told her that being able to play something like that was why I had started taking piano lessons again, she she said that she, too, wanted to learn to play pieces like that "so that when you and Daddy are making dinner at night, I can play something nice for you to listen to." How could she know that was the perfect thing to say?

Oh, and I got some knitting done. While watching the girls swim on Saturday, I got to within about an inch of starting the toe decreases on E's camo socks. And I finished the heel turn and gusset decreases on my Dunes socks. I really like the way the eye-of-partridge heel stitch shows off the shading in this nearly-solid yarn:

And I putzed around in the garden a bit. This guy seemed to be enjoying the flowers too:

Strange Winds

What a strange 24 hours for weather reporting in Houston. Usually if there is storm headed our way, we watch it for days and the newscasters spend a lot of time reminding people of preparations they need to make.

But this was really different. When I left the house yesterday morning it was a tropical low pressure system that would bring lots of rain. Next time I checked the radio it was Tropical Depression 9. Then Tropical Storm Humberto. By the time I left work they were talking about school closings. At dinner time it was aimed right at us. I went to bed expecting to be awoken in the wee hours by howling winds and pounding rains.

But when I poured my coffee this morning, my spouse said -- surprise! -- it had been upgraded to Hurricane Humberto. Huh, I thought, as I looked at the slightly-low pool level and the neat dry back yard. And surprise #2, it had scooted on up the coast almost to Louisiana.

The kids were disappointed that they had to go to school. (Hello! Hurricane! did you think we'd have electricity for video games?) Today was dry and partly cloudy. We're not even getting the three days of rain we expected from the low pressure system. Very strange.

Finished: Josephine

After several late nights when I should have been working (or sleeping so that I could stay awake at work the next day), I finished Josephine last night. I am prouder of this project than any other I have finished in a very long time. The knitting itself looks good, it fits well, and the finishing work came out beautifully. I think all the sock knitting -- with picking-up of gusset stitches -- has really helped me to pick up edges and do seams. This is the most "professional" job I've ever done on a sweater.



A detail of the cap sleeve -- I love the short-row shaping and the little rolled edge:

And a close up of hte V-neck:

And an apology for the lighting in these pictures. We have yet another storm coming in off the Gulf, and dry spots with natural light will be non-existent for the next several days. So my loving spouse hauled his shop lights into the house and set them blaring. Not ideal, but I couldn't bear to wait until the sun came back.

So, the details:

• Pattern: Jospehine, from the Spring'07 issue of Interweave Knits
• Yarn: Shoeller & Stahl "Mama Mia", mercerized cotton, purchased from Elann.com several years ago for a project I never started. Ball band gage 24 sts/10cm.
• Needles: Addi Turbo circulars -- size 5 for most, size 4 for the sleeve bind off
• Modifications: Added ~2" between the eyelet row and the start of the arm hole. Started the neck shaping at the same time as armhole shaping (rather than just above the eyelet row.) I didn't intend to increase the armhole depth, but ended up adding ~3/4" due to a slight miscalculation on the neck decreases -- and I'm glad I did. The pattern calls for very tight arm holes.
• Wish I'd done different: I wish I had seen Sandi's wonderful posts on ease before I started this sweater. I chose a size with zero ease, and actually hoped the fabric would grow a bit so the sweater wouldn't be too tight. Now I wish I had gone with a couple or three inches of negative ease. The swatches didn't shrink when I washed and dried them flat, but now that it seems likely that the sweater will grow, I'm going to toss them in dryer and see what I get.
• Learned for next time: If I want to modify a pattern, I need to DRAW A FULL SCHEMATIC FIRST. I ended up reworking the back because I tried to work out the revised instructions without referencing a schematic. And I will likely re-use the finishing techniques on other sweaters I do.

I also learned, or am reminded, why I have avoided knitting sweaters by hand. Heavy gages are too warm to be wearable in Houston, but small gages take stinkin' forever to knit! I'm glad I knit this sweater, but I won't be doing another by-hand sport weight top anytime soon.

That said, the thing that I really really really want to start next is the Norah Gaughan's Origami Cardi from the same IK. I plan to do the fun pattern stitch bands by hand, then do the large boring stockinette sections on the knitting machine.

Maybe I'll wrap up a couple of UFO's before I start that, though.

Postscript: Panda Cotton Monkeys

Just a quick post to update everyone:

Late last week, I wore the Monkey socks that I made in Panda Cotton. And they were every bit as nice on my feet as they felt to my hand. They felt very thick and cushy, but not too tight in my shoes. And they were comfortable both in my frigid office and for 20-minute stints in 95 degree/90% humidity sauna, I mean, weather.

When it rains...

I'm proud to post some progress at last! First, late last week I finished the 2nd try of the back of Josephine. Both the front and back are now blocked and resting in the guest room, and I'm getting my second wind on this sweater. I can't wait to finish. And in Houston there are, like, 8 more weeks of summer so I'll even get a chance to wear it:










We went to visit my folks near Ft Worth this weekend, and I finished my first, but not last, pair of Monkey's on the drive up there:

Specifics:

• Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton in color "Roses" (purchased on-line from the Loopy Ewe.)
• Pattern: Monkey from Cookie A
• Needles: Umm, mostly US 1 5" Brittany Birch DPN's, but only after failed attempts with Crystal Palace circs (the join wasn't smooth enough for this yarn) and 7" Brittany Birch DPN's
• Modifications: I made the second sock with 5, rather than the specified 6, pattern repeats in the leg. Yeah, that was on purpose. And I did my "typical toe decrease", which included a few rounds of decreasing every round before grafting the last few -- the pattern calls for a more square-ish toe that just seems unnatural to me.
• Other comments: Yes, the yarn is kind of splitty. It took me a few inches of knitting to become consistently split-free. Now that I'm familiar with the yarn, it works up very well. The yarn is also very slippery -- combine that with splitty, and you've got real trouble if you need to back up and correct a mistake. The upside of slippery is that the socks feel like heaven on your feet. I'll definitely work with this yarn again, I just won't choose complicated patterns. And I'll definitely make Monkey's again. The pattern is completely addictive and practically flies off the needles.

I worked on another pair of Panda Cotton socks on the way home, but that will be another post.