another knitting blog

untitled post #7

    The difference between
Happiness and Unhappiness
    is the difference between
Confidence and Fear

pardon me, mater, I'm orf to the harbour

I can't help it--every time I see harbor spelled with that 'extra u', I think of the Monty Python sketch, 'Flying Lessons'. I realize (realise?) that technically the 'u' is not 'extra', but it does make the place seem more posh, especially when there are things like this parked there.

I also realize that this ship is mainly filled with tourists who would not usually be synonymous with 'posh'; and yet, they are on the ship, not I. Jerks.

And then there are things like this:

It's somewhat difficult to see, but this cabin has a shower (on the right) with a full length window facing out from the ship. I suppose this is so you can shower while watching the orcas. Don't tell me that's not posh!

There are photos of the more mundane aspects of the harbour and cruise ships added to the Vancouver photo album.

Pardon me, but I'm orf to play the grahnd piano.

Regia Cotton Surf on sale

Wouldn't you think I had enough sock yarn? Apparently not.

After coming back from Vancouver, I was compelled to start a sock from the Regia Cotton Surf. I'm loving it so much, I decided that I wanted some more.

A search revealed a sale on it until the end of the month at Carodan Farm.

Regia Strato Color is on sale too and looks pretty interesting.

"don't be so hard on yourself"

I get that one a lot.

Although it's almost always offered in a sincere spirit of concern and love--as far as advice goes--it's pretty useless.

How about telling a depressed person just to cheer up or an overweight person just to stop eating so much. It's too simplistic.

OK, try this: just for a few minutes, stop being the person you've been as long as you can remember--cold turkey.

See how easy that is? Nothing to it.

Just because you know where you're going doesn't mean you know how to get there.

Vancouver buildings

OK, people, I took a lot of pictures in Vancouver and now is when I start dribbling them out at you.

I'm trying to cut it down to the best of the bunch; however, I admit that some of these are going to be a bit 'arty' and are included for my own vanity and amusement.

If there is any up side of this on your end, it's that I'm putting most of the photos in a separate album that you can browse or ignore as you wish. Also, I may add new photos at a slow enough rate that the occasional knitting related post will slip through too.

This is the view down Burrard St. from the balcony of my room at the Hyatt where the conference was held. Although it was great to have a balcony, the weather wasn't often nice enough to make good use of it. Get used to the 'white sky'; it was that way all week long.

For more photos of Vancouver's buildings, check out the Vancouver photo album.

I'm back...barely

Fourteen hours late and an unplanned night in Chicago later, I am back from Vancouver.

There are pictures, but first, I need to dig myself out from under more than a week's worth of e-mails and Bloglines notifications.

sock yarn III

Three cotton/wool blends. The two on the right are Regia; the one on the left is Sockotta.

This is where I make a liar out of myself. Earlier, I said that I was over self-patterning yarn. Well, the Regia does stripe. I'm making an exception in this case because it's a cotton sock yarn and you don't see many of those. At least, I don't.

The Regia costs twice as much as the Sockotta. I guess that's (almost) fair because it's also much softer than the Sockotta.

I've used Sockotta before. I bought some two years ago on a trip to visit a friend. This week at the conference, I'll be giving that friend a pair of socks knit from that yarn. Of course, I'll have to finish them first.

The final stop on our tour is some very basic sock yarn. Why is it so hard to find plain old sock yarn? The green is sort of an interesting color and a color that I can't usually wear because it makes people ask me if I'm feeling unwell. I figure if it's only on my feet, I can get away with it.

OK, that's the end. I ought to be flying in very late tonight. Gee, I post more often when I'm not even here.

sock yarn II

Ah, the magic that is the small skeins at the Koigu booth.

The variety and unpredictability in what's available come together produce combinations you may never consider otherwise.

It's rare that you would find much of the same colorway, let alone the same dye lot.

There are thousands of ways to mix and match; and at these prices, why not?

I first picked up the purple yarns and got in line to pay right behind Kate. By the time I got up the cashier, I had picked up the bright option at the top. I could have stayed all day playing with the colors.

But there was more yarn out there. Friday, the journey ends.

sock yarn I

So, where did this sock yarn fetish come from?

Well, for me it started in 2004 during Socktober. After a long break from sock knitting, I spent the whole month knitting nothing but socks. That got me started again.

The next big boost came in March of this year when I attended Paula's yarn party and bought the beautiful tealy-blue yarn from Jen at Spirit Trail.

And finally, after years of knitting nothing but the same sock, I've decided that it's finally time to start adapting my basic sock recipe with more interesting and creative designs. Here, I've gotten a lot of inspiration from the sock patterns that have been appearing in Interweave Knits recently and from the sockapalooza posts over at Alison's blog.

And so, if I'm going to be heavy into the sock thing for a while, I'm going to need some raw material. There's no better time than MS&W to pick up yarn for knitting socks. It's not all the same old stuff [I am so over the self-patterning yarns].

I got a selection of colors and types of sock yarn at the festival. This week while I'm away, I've got the ol' blog set to automatically post a couple entries about my acquisitions. See ya next week.

The first stop on the tour of sock yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. I've used this yarn before to knit my 'autumn leaves' socks.

The three colorways shown here are (clockwise from the upper left) Indian Summer, Old Rose, and Martha's Vineyard. I had a hard limiting myself to just three, but I didn't want my day to end at the first place I stopped.

I was so happy when I heard that Jen was going to be at MS&W afterall. I was very happy to have the change to pick up some more sock yarn from Spirit Trail.

More blue yarn? Yes, and beautifully blue, too.

OK, that's it for today. Come back on Wednesday for the results from my skein diving at the Koigu booth.

dining options

festival attendees

MS&W timeline

Saturday, May 7th

8:30am - Arrive in parking lot of Howard County Fairgrounds

8:35am - Am overwhelmed

8:40am - Get in t-shirt line

9:05am - Now possess MS&W t-shirt (on the shopping list) and MS&W coffee mug (not on the shopping list)

9:10am - Enter Main building

9:15am - Buy sock yarn

9:30am - Buy sock yarn

9:45am - Oh look, little skeins of Koigu! Buy Koigu to knit socks

10:30am - Have spent entire year's yarn budget and have not yet left Main building (now possess much sock yarn and felting needles)

11:15am - Buy fleece for needle felting (shopping from list now complete)

11:30am - Mmm, more sock yarn

12:00pm - Hi, Louise!

12:15pm - Take glamour shots of sheep

12:30pm - Make trip to car, thereby completely missing out on any group meetup I know about

1:00pm - Attend class with Nancy Bush

4:00pm - Class ends; leave for home

Evening - Unable to rise from couch

Sunday, May 8th

All day - Unable to rise from couch

[Photos and more details to follow].

What should one do while in Vancouver, BC?

MS&W recap is on the way [I hope].

In the mean time, does anyone have suggestions for places to see or dine while in Vancouver, BC?

Nothing that takes too much time because I'll be attending a conference, but a couple of quick or half-day backups may be nice to have when the talks and poster sessions finally drive me nuts.

Also, the conference is all next week.

shopping list

• sock yarn
• needle felting supplies
• t-shirt

blame the trees

Thank you so much to everyone who weighed in on my sock dilemma.

Here's the new plan of attack: As almost everyone suggested, I'm casting on with US2s. I'm also casting on two extra pattern repeats, 12 extra stitches. After the first row, I switch to US1s and proceed down the ankle to a short row heel.

I just passed my first heel and started down the foot last night. So far, so good. The cast on passes the heel test and the stitches are just the size I like them.

You can blame the trees for my slow progress and the lack of pictures and posts over the weekend. The arboreal orgy may natural and necessary for the leafy ones, but it gives me a headache.