alisonknits

Now with Pictures!

Ah, a lovely (hot) sunny day, perfect to take pictures of some recently finished items.

Here's wedding shawl #2 (click thumbnail for full-size image) - the Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding.  Yarn used: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino; Needles: size 8 Addi Turbos.  (I'm using the same yarn & needles for all five shawls, but different patterns for each.)  This was a fun pattern, not quite memorizable, but fairly intuitive once each row got going.  The edging, which I love, is knit on at the same time as the body of the shawl, and it's finished with an I-cord bind off. 

And here's my most recently completed pair of socks, Hedera from Knitty.  (Sorry for the lack of links in this post; I'm in a hurry.)

Yarn: J. Knits Superwash Me Light Sock in Mesa

Needles: 2.25 Susan Bates DPNs

These didn't take much yarn - I actually have enough left over for a whole 'nother pair.  I love the color, which is greener, not quite as grey, as this photo appears on my monitor.  And the pattern was fun and not very difficult.  I only changed the ribbing at the top - I cast on 70 instead of 60 sts and decreased when I got to the main pattern.  (I don't like my socks too tight on my calf.)

More photos coming soon! 

What I Did On My Blogging Vacation

Last week I was in St. Louis for the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly.  As I've previously written, this is an event I typically look forward to all year, where I get to commune with other religious liberals, worship, learn, sing, and sometimes see parts of the country where I otherwise would not have cause to go.

This year, the highlight of my GA was singing in the GA choir, which rehearses every day in preparation for the closing ceremony.  A new conductor is chosen each year, and they are always excellent.  The repertory is diverse - this year it included UU hymns, powerful gospel, a contemporary mass for the earth, a Senegalese harvest song, and a lovely, perfect setting of a Wendall Berry poem.  Oh, how I wish I could make time to sing more often... in a more structured setting than my shower.

As usual, I knitted my way through the various programs.  While there were many other knitters present, I received many curious comments on my knitting.  And many knitters lamenting not having taken theirs with them.  (Why would a knitter not take her knitting to a conference featuring lots of sitting and listening to speakers?)

In the previous three GAs I attended, I was always working on a lace shawl.  Probably because that's what I do in late June.  In Boston, I worked on the Forest Path Stole.  In Long Beach, I worked on the Garden Shawl.  (This was a tactical error since it required so many charts.)  Last year in Fort Worth, I wised up and selected the relatively simple and easily memorizable Birch.

Although I am still in the midst of knitting my sister's wedding shawls, I determined for myself that these do not count as lace shawls, because they are heavier yarn and bigger needles.  I missed knitting with lace weight yarn on smaller needles.  So I've started the Icarus shawl with some smoke-colored Skacel Merino Lace from my stash.  It made excellent GA knitting, as the pattern is very simple until near the end.  I also finished my Hedera socks and started a new pair of my own design, and am this close to finishing wedding shawl #3.  (I'm in no rush since the yarn for #s 4 and 5 seems to be back-ordered.)  (And wedding afghan squares?  What wedding afghan squares?  Hm....)

I am very behind on posting photos of FOs, so I'll get on that this weekend.  Camera batteries are charging as I write.  Maybe I'll just post one a day, to stretch it out.  Since I don't seem to come up with blog fodder very often these days.  (It's feast or famine around here.)

Fruitful

How psyched am I that it feels like summer today and is supposed to be hot & sunny all weekend?  I'm hoping to finally get to jump in my pool. 

Other signs of summer: I've been craving fruits & veggies all the time lately.  I'm eating salads every day and even bought peaches at the supermarket.  This is a big thing for me, since my eating habits have been pretty awful in the last several months.  (E.g. typical breakfast = egg & cheese on a bagel from Dunkin' Donuts; typical dinner = pizza or mac & cheese.)

I found this yummy recipe for Green Goddess dressing, which makes the salads much more appealing.  It uses plenty of fresh herbs, as well as red wine vinegar, mayo, sour cream and garlic.  I highly recommend it.  I never made my own dressing before and I was inordinately pleased with myself for doing so.  It was like magic.  Sort of like the first time I ever knit socks.

Life lately has been v. busy but v. fullfilling lately.  At my church job, the year is wrapping up.  Like many churches, we're sort of on an academic calendar, and things slow down considerably during the summer.  [This annoys me to no end.  What? God goes on vacation?  I'm trying to do something about it by coordinating some summer programs.]  But before it slows down it revs up for one last hurrah.  On Sunday I was responsible for a new member joining ceremony, a volunteer recognition part of the worship service, and an ice cream social for the congregation.  The day was like a test of endurance.  I think I passed.

In my knitting career, I've been teaching lots of classes and having some design successes.  J. Knits is buying a sock pattern of mine, with discussions of plenty more collaboration in the future.  And a seed I planted many months ago has come to fruition in an opportunity to have one of my designs in the Summer '07 Interweave Knits.  It was so cool to get an email from Pam Allen herself!  More details on that project later.

There have been some other interesting professional developments that I'm not yet at libery to discuss.  Suffice it to say, the gods seem to be smiling on me lately.

Wish I Were Here...

Yet again I find myself wondering how people manage to live their lives while posting about them on their blogs daily.  I missed my weekly blog appointment on Monday when our internet was down and my tech support (AKA husband) was in NY for his mom's graduation.

[Aside: how cool is it that his septuagenarian mother just completed her BA in Women's Studies?  And that she won an award for her work in a memoir-writing class?  And that next semester she starts an MFA program in Creative Writing?]

There have been additional technical difficulties in that the monitor attached to the computer that I usually plug my camera into has suddenly died, and I haven't had time to figure out how to modify the photos using any of our other computers.  So while I have much knitting to show you, it will have to be later.

Suffice it to say, my anxiety about completely all the knitting I'm planning for my sister's wedding (now 16 1/2 weeks away!) is lessened.  Several people pointed out that wedding gifts are perfectly acceptable within a year of the actual wedding date, and that since she's my sister even that rule can be relaxed.  So I'm still knitting socks (so there!), while devoting equal or greater time to the Aran Afghan and the latest shawl (now on #3 of 5 for her wedding day - photos of #2 coming soon). 

Meanwhile, I'm busy busy busy at my church job as we wrap up the year, and I'm also still teaching lots and working my usual hours at the store.  Having three jobs is starting to wear on me just a little bit.

But our swimming pool is now open... if only it would warm up and stop raining!  I'm thinking about a Boston area / southern NH bloggers pool party at my place sometime in July or August - who wants in?