Vacation yarn store purchases

Family drama/wedding drama aside, this vacation has been... Well, it's been.

At the moment, the family is gathered (in separate beach houses, fancy fancy!) on a resort island right outside Charleston, SC. The kiddies - cousins of my generation, who aren't really kids at all, as most of them are now in their 20s - are in the house by the creek populated by crocodiles. The grown-ups are in a larger, fancier house by the beach; we convene there for meals, served in shifts. I hope to take a walk along the beach there tomorrow; there is supposed to be a stretch of beach where one can see dolphins frolicking in the water.

On Thursday, my parents, my sister, and I managed to spend a few precious hours in Savannah, GA. I convinced them to accompany me to the LYS there, a place called Wild Fibres, right in/near the historic district. (Well, more like put up with my browsing whilst they waited... Details, details!) I was very restrained, leaving the store with just a few essentials: a pair of skinny stitch holders, a set of size 6 double point needles (in a nifty leather case - I already have a set, but I seem to need this size quite a bit for various projects, whether mittens, fingerless gloves, or hats, so another set seemed like a wise investment), and a new pattern to hunt down (a cute little baby dress that can be found in a Debbie Bliss book). That last item will come in handy, as I have yet another reason to knit - my cousin's itty bitty baby!

Baby A is about 5 months old, but is still rather tiny because she arrived 6 weeks ahead of schedule. She is the most precious baby in the world, I'm convinced of it! She is a very happy baby, who gurgles in the cutest way imaginable whenever anyone in the vicinity pays even the smallest bit of attention to her - and of course, no one can escape the irresistible pull of her cuteness, so she gets quite a bit of attention!

Today, despite a bunch of family drama, I managed to spend about 10, maybe 15 minutes in a yarn store in Charleston called, quite simply, Knit (on Wentworth, right in the historic downtown area). The store itself is located in a bright pink building, occupying a series of small, interconnected rooms. The yarn selection itself is comprised mainly of the usual, but much of the selection includes a bunch of my favorites - and quite a few that I don't usually encounter at my own LYS (stores, plural).

I was lucky enough that (a) I entered the sale room first; (b) my sister was there to comb through the sale merchandise (she's much better at that than I am); and (c) we (she) discovered purse handles on sale for 2 bucks a pair/apiece (depending on the length)! They aren't the fine leather purse handles I've been drooling over ever since the Knitter's Review review came out, but they'll do... And at that price, they are perfect! So I purchased a black pair of 13" handles (chocolate brown would've been ideal, but the only other pairs available were purple), and a pair of longer orange "alligator" handles, which I'm sure I'll find a use for one day.

My sister also helped me pick out a couple of potential buttons for the Brea bag closure. They were pricey (at $4 for one and $5 for the other), but they are beautiful... And then my impulse buy, a notions bag in kelly green with a bright pink zipper, emblazoned with a matching bright pink Knit store logo. I am quite pleased.

And now, I get to go back to finishing up a fingerless glove for the first Stash Club project... :o)

Off to wedding #4 (or is it 5??) this year...

Hmm, D&R, N&A, N&D/S&C... And now, Cousin G&V. Yup, it's definitely #4. It would have been #5 if I'd made it up to Providence for the boy's cousin's wedding. Let me tell you, these wedding attendance trips add up!

Cousin G is getting married on Sunday, Dec 30th near Charleston SC. Not much to say... It will be a big family reunion of sorts, which I have mixed feelings about. I'm sure I will be pleased to see everyone, but spending a few days stuck in a beach house with them will probably be overkill - and make me want to kill! :oP

Then there's the fact that Cousin G, who at 33-ish is the oldest of the cousins of that branch of the family, is marrying soon-to-be-Cousin V, who at 24 is nearly 4 years younger than I and barely older than my younger sister. This creeps me out a little bit. What is it with guys' desire to marry girls much younger than they themselves are?? I mean, I sometimes sense a generational difference between my sister and me - and she's only 4 years younger than I am. How much common ground can there be between two people with a decade's worth of time between them? Furthermore, V's recent Facebook posts make it oh-so-clear that she is a very young, very recent college graduate. And this girl to be my "new older sister" according to Korean tradition? Ye gods...

Then there's the whole bit with the rehearsal dinner... Umm, yeah, let's save the story of that whole drama-fiasco for another time and another post.

Well, at least my vacation knitting projects appear to be in order. I am about 40% of the way through with the Brea bag, and I am packing the December Stitch DC Stash Club project (Tilli Tomas fingerless gloves - may as well give them a go) to take with me. Hi ho, hi ho, and off I go...

Waiting for... StitchDC Stash Club's first shipment

It's here!! The first shipment for the StitchDC Stash Club is here! It arrived today, as I'd been hoping it would ever since I heard that Marie was printing out labels on Thursday and shipping on Friday. (According to the lady I spoke with at the Capitol Hill store, Stash Club-related chaos has kept Marie very busy since the announcement for the club initially went out.)

The package consists of two skeins of yarn and a pattern (with introduction to the Stash Club), stuffed into the clear shopping bag emblazoned with the gold StitchDC.

According to the intro, there are over 150 members in the Stash Club, and there will be "hand-dyed yarns from as close as Maryland and Virginia and as far as Australia. We are buying wool from an entire herd in Pennsylvania." Now how cool is that? :o)

Moving on... The pattern, called La Dolce Vita Glove #203 (design by Justine Moody, reprinted by permission of Tilli Tomas), is for a pair of ruffled fingerless gloves. I reserve judgment on the ruffly bits, but fingerless gloves seem to be all the rage these days.

The yarn, too, comes from Tilli Tomas: 1 skein of Mogul (100% Australian Merino wool with glass beads, 80 yds/ 100 g) and 1 skein of Aspen (100% Australian Merino wool, 130 yds/ 50 g), both in color Parchment, a dark beige-y shade. The color reminds me of cafe latte or perhaps of coffee diluted with plenty of cream. Or maybe of old, aged sheets of parchment, an image evoked by the very name of the color.

I'm not entirely excited by the color, but I am thrilled by the prospect of finally working with some Tilli Tomas yarn!

Now I just have to decide which project to lug to Charleston - the Stash Club fingerless gloves, the Woolwinders cabled bag, or the Alpaca Silk cowl neck scarf. Hmm... Decisions decisions!

Pre-trip prep

Many people, before a trip, make lists of things to pack and things to get done. For most of these people, this latter list usually consists of household chores and the like.

For me, my to-do list consists mainly of knitting-related items. For example, I am to (not in final, do-in-this-order order):

1. knit, finish, and block my mom's long-in-the-making sweater;
2. seam and block my Eyelet Cardigan;
3. knit and finish my sister's MaryElla bracelet;
   
4. stop by the tanning salon, as per my sister's instructions, so that my upper chest doesn't look ghostly-pale (whereas my arms are super-tan and my legs are ashy - a great look, let me tell you!);
5. exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate! The moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!
6. remove all extraneous hair from all visible parts of the body, including eyebrows;
   
7. knit one more MaryElla bracelet and ship it and two other MaryElla bracelets to various friends around the country as (belated) Christmas gifts;
8. help my sister design her vacation knitting project - a simple cowl-neck scarf;
9. decide which prospective project(s) to take with me and pack appropriately, including all yarn, needles, and notions...

See what I mean?

And then there's the actual packing list, made a little more complicated because (a) there is a black-tie optional wedding involved (oh, to be a guy and be able to just pack a damn suit and tie... but then I'd miss out on all the pretty dresses!); (b) there will possibly be a rehearsal dinner (no one really seems to know, and everyone seems pretty loathe to pester the bride-and-groom with questions so close to the wedding hoopla); (c) the trip will include stops in three areas of the country (including the starting point, aka home), which means three distinct weather regions; (d) winter weather is rather unpredictable; (e) no one seems certain what is provided and what is not provided with the rental houses. I'm sure there are other complications, but I can't think of them now.

Oh well, what's really important, anyway - figuring out the knitty-gritty details or the nitty-gritty details? ;o)

I'm on Ravelry!!

After what seemed like weeks and months of waiting... Okay okay, actually, I quite forgot all about Ravelry after I signed up for the waiting list a while ago. And then apparently I was sent an invitation back in late October, but it must have ended up in my spam box. I was re-issued the invitation when I checked for my number in the waiting list a day or so ago. Anyway, here I am! Yay!

Afternoon tea

I am a big fan of tea. I somehow made it all the way through college without resorting to massive quantities of coffee, instead opting to sip on green tea. Of course, that changed once I left school and entered the real world. These days, it's not unusual for me to drink a cup or two of coffee a day. Not so good. I'd like to go back to drinking predominantly tea and cut back on the coffee consumption. First new year's resolution? Hmm, perhaps...
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A great start would be going to one of those fancy hotels for afternoon tea. An article from Washingtonian magazine landed in my inbox this morning about this very thing - holiday afternoon tea at various hotels, the Willard InterContinental in particular.

The $47-a-person tea starts with a glass of Moët & Chandon Champagne or a vodka-tea cocktail—your choice. While you sip, you can dip into a chocolate sleigh filled with fresh berries sprinkled with powdered sugar. That’s just one treat. Other sweet touches include cranberry and gingerbread scones—accompanied by jams, lemon curd, and Devonshire cream—as well as such pastries as bite-size fruit tarts and delicate chocolate napoleons.

The scones and pastries are presented on a three-tiered china tray; the top layer is devoted to savory finger sandwiches, including ham and cheddar on a Scottish oat cake, turkey on a buttermilk biscuit with orange-cranberry chutney, maple-smoked salmon on New England brown bread with fennel butter, egg salad with poached quail egg on rye, and shaved English cucumber and watercress with cream cheese on country white. If you want more of anything, just ask.

Then, of course, there’s the tea.

Besides more than a dozen loose-leaf choices—which range from a special Willard blend of Darjeeling, green, and red-bush teas to decaffeinated African amber, an infusion of hibiscus and exotic fruits—there are two holiday brews: chocolate-mint truffle and pear-caramel truffle. (We can vouch for the latter, which has a decadent aroma.)

See how pretty!

The champagne or vodka-tea cocktail, eh. Don't get me wrong, I think that either (or perhaps both) would be a perfect way to get things started. But the next part, the "chocolate sleigh filled with fresh berries sprinkled with powdered sugar"... Now that gets me excited! Add to that scones, cream, and a variety of sandwiches (I'm a big fan of sandwiches, too), and I'm very tempted to call for a reservation... Despite the hefty price tag!

Old habits...

definitely die hard.

My modus operandi: Enthusiastically start keeping a journal (either the old-fashioned kind or the online kind) with daily entries, sometimes multiple entries in a single 24-hour period. Then the enthusiasm gradually (and sometimes precipitously) peters out. The entries are now few and far between, with the time gap between entries gradually increasing. Until one day... Nothing.

I suppose this isn't an uncommon occurrence; I'm sure other people experience the same or similar trend... Which makes me feel quite better, because let's face it, we all like company when it comes to our failings, vices, and the like - no?

Well, here's one of my few-and-far-betweens. I am writing out of a vague sense of obligation - which is experienced through a delicate bite of guilt - but mostly because I want to share my latest FO - Auntie Soo's Angora Cabled Scarf.

Above: Auntie Soo's Angora Cabled Scarf. See above link for pattern; project notes can be found here.

Auntie Soo's Angora Cabled Scarf

Materials:

• 3 balls Louisa Harding Kimono Angora Pure (70% angora, 25% wool, 5% nylon; 125 yards/25g), colour 12 (soft greyish-blue)
• US#7 needles
• Cable needle
• Yarn needle

Gauge: approximately 20 sts & 28 rows = 4" in St st

Instructions:
Cast on 42 sts.

Row 1 (RS): K3, p2, k3, p2, k6, p2, k6, p2, k6, p2, k3, p2, k3.
Row 2 (WS): P3, k2, p3, k2, p6, k2, p6, k2, p6, k2, p3, k2, p3.

Rep Rows 1 & 2 until piece measures about 3 inches, ending Row 1 complete.

Cable pattern:
Row 3 (RS): K3, p2, k3, p2, c6f, p2, c6f, p2, c6f, p2, k3, p2, k3.
Row 4 (WS): Rep Row 2.
Row 5 (RS): Rep Row 1.
Row 6 (WS): Rep Row 2.
Row 7 (RS): Rep Row 1.
Row 8 (WS): Rep Row 2.

Rep Rows 3-8 until scarf measures approximately 75 inches from beginning (or as long as desired), ending Row 4 complete.

Above: A close-up of the cable pattern.

Rep Rows 1 & 2 until end border piece matches the beginning St st border piece (about 3 inches long), ending Row 2 complete.

Bind off all sts.
Weave in all ends.

Enjoy!


(Note: Auntie Soo's Angora Cabled Scarf project notes can be found here.)

Auntie Soo's Angora Cabled Scarf: Project Notes

Note: The pattern for Auntie Soo's Angora Cabled Scarf can be found here. Project notes (my thoughts on designing and knitting this project, and on working with this particular yarn) can be found in this entry.

When I first petted the angora-blend yarn, I was struck by two things. (1) I marveled at the light-as-air, lofty nature of the yarn. (2) I was disappointed by the not-very-luxurious, nylon-y feel of the yarn. Having committed to this yarn the moment I clicked on the buy button on eBay, I set out to cast on.

I played around a bit before deciding on this particular rib-and-cable pattern. The trio of 6-stitch cables seemed to balance nicely with the side borders of 3x2 rib. The wrong side (the private side, according to Maggie Righetti of Knitting in Plain English renown) is a slightly messed up looking rib, as the reverse side of a cable-knit item usually does.

I decided I wanted a deep border of ribbing at either end of the scarf, approximately 3 inches on each end, to balance out the cabling.

I had toyed with the idea of making two panels of cables, with plain rib panels on either end and in the middle of the scarf, but as I begin knitting the cables, I decided it would be best to continue the cables throughout the scarf with just the two deep borders of plain ribbing at both ends.

I started with two balls of the Louisa Harding yarn, but ran out and had to order a third ball of the yarn from the same vendor. I ended up using most of that third ball to finish the scarf.

Upon finishing the scarf, I was amazed by the lightness and loft of the finished scarf. I am certain the fuzzy angora will be soft on the wearer's skin, and hope the scarf will keep her warm throughout the winter. And I hope Auntie Soo likes her (belated) birthday gift... It was definitely knitted with loving care! :o)